The Road Less Traveled
by Girlfearless
Summary: Alternate Universe: pairings SonnyEmily, LuckyGia, Brazen. During the whole dead Ted incident Emily dissapeared, this is what happens when she comes back four years later, with some secrets. NEW Chapter Twenty-eight added. Read and Review.
1. Chapter One

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

**Summary/Authors Note:** Okay the main pairings in this story are Sonny/Emily, Jason/Brenda and Lucky/Gia (maybe Alexis/and and original male character), if you don't like any of those pairings it might not be a good idea to read on. Although you'll be missing out on a good story (I Hope)! The next thing you need to know is that Carly died in childbirth with Michael, I have nothing against the character, actually I like her a lot, she just didn't fit, Michael survived and is living with Jason. Courtney doesn't exist. Nikolas and Liz got together and are now married and living in Greece, but they will both make appearances later—and all is not what it seemed with them.

**Next, the whole dead Ted incident went down differently**: Lucky never showed up at the hotel, someone else did (you'll find out who), and Ted worked for the FBI, but he still died. I'll try to get most of that explained in this first chapter. Also, Emily disappeared that day, and no one has known where she has been since (it's been 4 years), they looked for her, but no one found her. Gia still saw her that night and that's how she and Lucky met, she was trying to help find Emily and they fell for each other. After a while everyone went on with his or her lives, reluctantly. (Emily is also being aged for this; I'm saying she was 19 when the dead Ted thing happened so that would make her 23 now. I know that's still pretty young in comparison to Sonny. If that bothers you, again, you might not want to read on.)

* * *

Brenda showing up in town went down pretty much the same way; she still married Jason, because he didn't want Sonny worrying about her. After a while they fell in love and they are now thinking about having a real wedding, though they are still married. No one really knows who kill Luis Alcazar, though most think it was a competitor they never heard of and NOT Sonny and Jason. Alexis and Sonny never slept together, so the baby was never born, also Kristina (the adult) didn't exist. Alexis still works for Sonny. Lucky works for Jason and Sonny. Brenda runs Deception, Gia is a model there and they are good friends.

Okay, I think that's all you need to know. If anything confuses you just ask, it can be kind of hard keep the consistency's together with semi-alternate universes. And now on to the story!

"Are you ready for this?" Thomas Marks asked as he glanced at the girl, woman really, who was standing next to him.

"Yes. No," Emily Bowen-Quartermaine looked through the one-way window and stared at the men in front of her, Lucky Spencer, Jason Morgan and Sonny Corinthos. All pieces of a past life that she never really left behind—a life the she was about to be thrown back into. But it was her choice. Wasn't it? "I'm just worried you know, it's been four years since I've seen anyone from Port Charles. I don't know how I'm supposed to do this…I mean they're gonna be angry, and the have every right to be, but we need their help, right?"

"Yes we do," he answered as he started to open the door to her future. Before he twisted the knob, he turned to her and said, "If they can't forgive you and understand why you're doing this. Why you have to do this, then they aren't worth your time anyway and no matter how much we need them, you're the one who has to live with them, you're the one taking the risks. So if your not ready for this we can wait, I mean we've waited four years what's a little while longer gonna matter."

"Oh it'll matter. None of them are very patient men, I'm actually surprised Lucky hasn't begun bouncing off the walls, and Sonny looks like he's gonna kill somebody if he doesn't find out what's happening soon. Let's just get this over with, I'll be fine…as long as none of them decide to kill me," she said the last part under her breathe as he swung open the door and she let him walk in first.

Sonny looked up, abandoning the spot on the table he'd been staring at for the past few minutes, as the man they'd seen in the halls earlier walked through the doors. He was tall, probably over six foot and he like he hadn't shaved in weeks, though it was probably closer to days, not at all what he envisioned an FBI agent to look like. He seen a couple in his time, and this guy looked more like a criminal. His dark blue eyes only served to add potency to the don't-fuck-with-me look on his face. He was built fairly well, lean with a runner's body. Before he could continue his critique Sonny notice someone else walk in behind the FBI-guy, a woman, who actually bared a striking resemblance to—Emily? _What the hell was thi_s? Before he could ask Jason was on his feet.

He wasn't expecting this. Anything, but this. The President of the United States could have come walking through the door and he would have been less surprised than he was to see his sister. He hunted for her after she disappeared, spent years of his life searching around the globe for any sign that she was alive and now, after he'd finally stopped, she'd fallen right into his lap.

"Emily?" He bolt out of his chair and crossed the room to her. He wanted to ask what was happening, where she had been, what she had been doing, but before he could get any of the words out of his mouth she threw her arms around him. The only thing he could think to do was return the hug and hold on for dear life. For a second he thought it was some horrible dream and when he woke up she would be gone again, lost forever…and that was a thought he couldn't take, so he held on a little tighter.

"Oh…you wouldn't believe how much I missed you Jason," Emily said as she sobbed into her brother's shoulder. "I'm sorry, God I'm so sorry. I…I should have called you, told you that I was okay, done something. I'm just so sorry I put you through this, and the family and everyone. I'm just really sorry."

"It's okay, whatever it is, it's okay. We'll help you. I'll get you out of this," Jason said as he allowed her to cry a little longer and then pulled back to look at her. She was still his little sister; grown-up, beautiful even, but definitely Emily.

"Have I mentioned how sorry I am?" She asked one more time, before pulling away and walking across the room to give Lucky the same treatment she has just given her brother.

"Hey brat, how you been doing?" Lucky asked as she stepped into his arms.

_Same old Lucky,_ Emily thought as she smiled and melted into his arms. She knew she could count on him not to hate her when everything was said and done and they all knew where she had been for four years, and what she had been doing, but for now she would just keep it light. "Me? Oh I've been great, you?"

"I've been great too, got a job working for your brother and Sonny. They pay well and let me beat the crap out of people, sometimes Jase even let's me…" Before Lucky could finish Sonny cleared his throat to remind everyone that there was still an FBI agent in the room and work to be done.

"I hate to interrupt, but there is a reason we are all here," Thomas said sensing Sonny desire to get down to business. "So if you would all take a seat I think we can get started now."

This was it, the part Emily had been dreading ever since she realized that this meeting was going to have to happen. She was about to lay their story out on the table and pray not only that Sonny would help, but also that none of them would hate her for what she was about to do. _Oh yeah…this would be great fun, just the stuff a good reunion was made of._

"Okay so what are we doing here," Sonny asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He didn't want to sound impatient, but when Emily Quartermaine walked through the door, the situation went from bad to worse. _What the hell was she doing here, now, and why was she with an FBI agent?_ There had to be an explanation for all of this—maybe not a good one, but and explanation non-the-less, and he wanted to hear it.

"Well…to put it simply. The government needs your help for once Mr. Corinthos," Thomas could tell that Sonny wasn't gonna buy the layout that easily so he just jumped right it to the things that Sonny would receive from working with them. "Look we're not trying to get you to turn over on any of the members of the five families or anything, as a matter of fact this has nothing to with any of your…associates at all. At least not the ones your on friendly terms with."

"Then why are we here," Sonny asked, still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"We need your help taking down Joseph Sorel, and before you start to argue, just listen. If you help then we will throw away all of your FBI files and start over, everything we have on all three of you and your business will go down the drain. Next, nothing that you do during this investigation, whether it's pertaining to it or not can be used against you in court, which essentially means that while you help us with this, you have free rein. Don't let it go to your head, though; we don't want any unnecessary deaths or anything. Also, you'll be getting rid of one of your competitors, and help us put a few assholes in prison."

"So let me get this straight," Lucky replied flippantly. "We help you with your…whatever, and in turn we get our records cleared and are allowed to do anything we want as long as we don't go around shooting people for no reason. Not to sound rude, but what's the catch and why is Em here?"

Emily looked into the eyes of all the men in the room. First her best friend, Lucky Spencer, he had been her rock when her mother died and she ended up with the Quartermaines. He was the first person who really saw her, and that meant more to the he would ever know.

Second her brother, Jason Morgan, he was her protector and best-friend when Lucky wasn't around. She knew he would always be there for her, and believe that she could do no wrong, God how she wished that was true.

Next Sonny Corinthos, the key to this plan working, if he didn't agree to work with the FBI…to work with her, then four years of her life would be unceremoniously washed down the drain. They really had nothing on him to make him help; only the a few promises that she wasn't even sure would be kept.

And last Thomas Marks, her mentor, the man that had kept her from certain death more than once, had he not been brought into this operation, there would have been no one to stop her every time she'd wanted to quit. She wanted so badly to please him, but knew that it wasn't required, she could walk away from all of this right now and he wouldn't blame her. And the government couldn't do a damn thing about it, he made sure of that when he kept them from bringing her in all the way and making her a full agent, as far as the rest of the world was concerned she was a civilian runaway, not even a blimp on the radar. Looking at all of these men she realized that they represented her past, present, and future, and the only way she would get all of those things back was if she moved forward, and in that moment the choice was made.

"I'm here because I've been working with the FBI on this case for the past four years, I know more about it than anyone does, with the exception of Tommy over there, and he really only pretends to read the files he's given," Emily let all of that information sink in before continuing on, in the last four years she had become a master at pitching the deal. And no matter how close she was to these people, this was business and she was making a pitch and praying to any deity listening that they would buy it. "And I guess you could say that the catch is the case itself. You see, we're trying to take down and international prostitution and pornography ring."

"No offense Em, but prostitution and pornography. I don't get it. I mean I'm not exactly of fan of women selling their body's on the street either, but you can't really expect to stop it internationally, and pornography, well that got me through high school," Lucky replied being his usually smart ass self. Emily and Tommy weren't amused.

"Usually Luck, I'd agree with you, but you don't know the whole story," Emily said as she got up and pulled a manila folder off the table in the corner of the small interrogation room and threw it in front of them allowing pictures of about twenty girls all looking to be under the age of seventeen to fall out. "You see those are the prostitutes and the stars of the video's that are being made. You still think it's no big deal?"

_How about lying to your friends and family, dumbass, _she thought as she watched Lucky and Jason's faces change. She was definitely going to hell for this.

Lucky turned his head in disgust and Jason made a small sickened noise in the back of his throat, while Sonny seemed to be keeping his concentration all on Emily. He didn't need to see the pictures to know all of the girls in them would have to be dead by now, that's the only way the FBI could know who they were. He could also tell by looking in Emily's eyes that there were was probably more to this story and he wanted to find out what it was, but his mind was made up, he'd definitely be helping the FBI on this one.

They all sat in silence for a couple of minutes, before a frightening thought occurred to Jason and he almost couldn't even ask the question. "Em…how did you get involved in this case?"

"It's not what you think," Emily said turning understanding eyes to her brother. _It's worse, _she thought to herself. In actuality she couldn't remember what happened that night between the time she left the rave and the time she woke up, but there was really no reason for her too. She was sure nothing had happened to her during that time and all hell was gonna break loose when they realized how she could be sure about that. But there was no reason to worry about that just yet, so she just told them what she could. "I'm sure you all know what happened at the rave with Juan and everything. Well, to get back at him I decide to start flirting with some guy, who turned out to be an FBI agent. I was flirting with him and when I began to get tipsy Ted, the FBI agent, took me to his room to keep me safe. He didn't want anything bad happening to me, but he couldn't blow is cover either."

"That didn't end up mattering too much though because somehow Sorel found out who he was and killed him, and then set me up with the body to make it look like I did it. The next day the FBI came in and told me what happened, and then they explained that I would need to lay low for a while so Sorel didn't suspect anything. A while turned into week and a week turned into a month, eventually I realized that I wasn't going anywhere."

"So what have you been doing to help the investigation so far?" Sonny asked and Emily shot daggers at him for interrupting her, but she really couldn't work up to being too bitchy about it. He was asking a good question.

"I'll field that one," Tommy said interrupting Emily before she could talk. "Mostly she's been setting up some dummy accounts and making it look like there is someone new in Port Charles interested in joining the business, that's where you come in. We want you to infiltrate Sorel's organization and get to the guy at the top, Andrejs Nikolai. Emily has been working the other end of the operations Nikolai's more legit business holdings. She's been showing her self at the right party's saying the right things to get in good with him. So by the time she show's up in Port Charles on your arm he'll already know who she is."

"Okay now I have a few more questions. First what do you mean on my arm? Second how do I convince people that I all of the sudden want into this business when for so long I've denied any part of prostitution and pornography, especially with little girls involved? And third, what's to say that Sorel won't remember Emily and tell Nikolai who she is?"

"By on your arm I mean she will be posing as your mistress, you will let everyone believe that you were on vacation and you saw her. Obviously recognizing who she was, you pursued her to see where she had been and in the course of finding out you fell in love with her. The next part will be a little harder and that's why we've been setting up the dummy accounts, to make it look like you're not all of the sudden in the business, but that you have been for a while and are just now willing to let others know of your interest. Now you will make it clear that you personally have no interest in the young girls, but are willing to make money any way that you can. And it won't really matter if Sorel does recognize her; it's all been set up so that the story looks completely real. That night he put a drug in her system that has a very interesting affect on the memory of the person taking it—he believes he knows that there is no way she could remember the night. The only reason she knows what went on is because we were there to intercede. So he will just think that she wandered off, lost her memory for a while, and you helped to bring it all back to her except that night."

"Why do you need Emily to do this? Why can't you get one of your other agents to go undercover? And for that matter what exactly will she be doing," Jason asked, suddenly very angered at the thought of putting his baby sister in danger, even if she was a grown woman now, to him she would always be his little sister.

"Jase," Emily grimaced as she realized if she didn't soothe his fears, he might actually try to hit Tommy and that would just disintegrate into two pig-headed men going at it until one of them needed a doctor. "This is all my choice no one is making me do anything. I want to help. And no, they don't expect me to sleep with him, remember I'm supposed to be Sonny's mistress. They just know that I'm his type, I know more about this guy that anyone does, he tends to become obsessed with 'taken' women and as Sonny's mistress I should be guarded at all times. He won't be able to get to me, and even if he does, it's been four years Jason, I've grown up and I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself. They wouldn't send me into this situation blind; I did have to go through FBI training before I went under the first time. I'll be fine."

"Alright, now that all of this has been settled there's on more catch…"

"And why wouldn't there be," Lucky laughed as he interrupted Tommy.

"As I was saying there's one more catch, I have to pose as your silent partner Sonny. It's the only way the Bureau would approve the operation, so I'll be coming back with you. Once we get to Port Charles you can have your lawyer look over the terms of the deal and we can get to work," He said as he got up and walked to the door, and the he turned back around­­—"One more thing, I need you all to agree to this. I know Emily is in, but I need the rest of you to say it, it can't be an order from your boss I need to know that you want to help and that this will be confidential."

"Fine," all three men said, and that sealed the deal. The town of Port Charles was about to be shaken to its core, not only was Emily Bowen-Quartermaine coming home, but she was doing it on the arms of the most powerful man in town. This was definitely gonna be a bumpy ride.


	2. Chapter Two

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

* * *

Emily looked across the hotel room at Sonny and prayed for something—anything—to break the tension. When Jason and Lucky had been with them, it wasn't as bad, but Tommy had informed everyone that they would be entering Port Charles in waves, a sneak attack. Jason and Lucky went back today, she and Sonny would make their way into town tomorrow and then in a week Tommy would come. In theory it had been a great idea, Jason and Lucky would beef up security and get things ready for Sonny and his mystery guest's return. Essentially they would draw as much attention to themselves as possible. And then Emily and Sonny would enter into the picture, first by going to the pent house and giving Brenda and Gia the bare minimum of information on what was going on. Then making their big entrance the next night when they showed up at the Quartermaines' to announce that they were together.

"We should talk," Sonny said interrupting her thoughts and bringing her back to the problem at hand—the tension.

"About what," she asked nonchalantly as she sat back in her chair and took a swig of beer. They had been sitting in silence since they walked into the hotel room. Occasionally one of them would comment on the hotel room they were in…it was beautiful, there were two beds in the bedroom courtesy of the FBI, things like that, but even the little comments were few and far between.

"We need to talk about you, me, and how we're going to fool all of Port Charles into believing we're in love. I need to get you updated on everything and you need to help me with the cover story the FBI has set up," he said the whole thing with a casual business like demeanor that angered her for some unknown reason. She wanted him to be upset, annoyed, or mad that he had to do this, anything but understanding and helpful. His complacency was starting to suffocate her and she needed an argument.

"Okay how about we start by dropping the bullshit and getting our real feelings out in the open?" She took his quietness and an agreement and continued on. "I hate this just as much as you do but…"

"I highly doubt that," he interrupted.

"Look I don't care if you believe me or not, the fact is I don't want to be here. I didn't ask to spend four years of my life away from the people I love. I would much rather go home, give my family members big hugs, and sleep in my own bed—NOT YOURS!"

"Why don't you then little girl," he yelled back, angry about her attitude. "You got yourself into this mess, get yourself out!"

"I wish I could," she whispered and suddenly she was very tired and drained. For at least three years she had been running on pure adrenaline and it was quickly catching up to her. "Look I'm sorry, really I am, but the fact is I need your help. And lately I haven't been dealing well with the idea. For a while now it's been just me, if something went wrong with this case it was on me, if my cover was blown it was because I messed up, and now here I am in the final leg of the race and I have to depend on other people. It's just…really scary. So if I act like a bitch every once in a while I'm gonna need you to forgive me. I'm just…I don't know what I am. Can we just start over?"

"Sure where do you want to start at? Hello, my name is Sonny Corinthos? Or hi I'm Emily Quartermaine and I'm gonna pull you into my life and make you give a damn and then disappear. Or how about, hey I've been gone for four years in which you thought I was dead, but actually I was working with the FBI. Where is it exactly that you want to start?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what else I can say that I haven't already said Sonny, what do you want me to say? I guess I didn't realize that you gave a damn too, I mean I knew that I cared what happened to you, especially after what happened with Juan and when he was beat up and everything. I just wanted to forget everything that had to do with him, and somehow by extension that was you, so I needed to forget that bond we shared while he was in the hospital, and I needed to forget that somewhere along the lines you became a part of my life. I'm just really sorry."

"Did you also need to forget that we were connected through Jason and so many other people in both of our lives," Sonny asked calmer now, but still realizing that all of this needed to be out in the open if they were ever going to trust each other and get through this. "Really Emily did you just block out all of the people in your life that cared about you?"

"Truthfully?" She waited for his nod of approval to continue. "Yes I did, I had to or else I would have gone crazy wondering what everyone was up to. I mean God Sonny I didn't even know my brother was married, and to Brenda, until a week ago. Can you believe that, do you have any idea how hurt he would be if I told him that I hadn't been checking up on him every month? I just needed to forget that Emily Quartermaine ever existed."

"So who are you then," Sonny asked. He understood where she was coming from, there were times in his life when he wanted to get away from anything and everything that defined him and just disappear into oblivion, but he had never been given the chance. Maybe that was why he was so pissed at her. She was given the chance to walk away and what was she really leaving? She had a good life, a family that loved her, and friends that would do anything for her. He had a step father who hated him and one horrible memory after another. Those were things worth running away from.

"Right now, I'm Emily Quartermaine, the girl you knew four years ago. Tomorrow I'll be your lover, and you'll begin to have a small idea of how taxing it is to live your life in a complete lie."

"That's my point Emily, that's exactly why we need to get to know each other, who we are now, what are lives are like, so that everything we say won't be a lie. I would like to be able to truthfully say that I know that girl that is sitting in front of me, especially if you are going to be putting your life in my hands, and vice versa."

"What do you want to know Sonny, I've spent pretty much all this time away working on the case, trying to get it done as soon as possible so I could get back to my family and the people that I love. Why don't you tell me what I missed, instead," she replied seeing where he was going and why they needed to know each other better, but not ready to admit who she now was.

"Fine. You know Jason and Brenda got married, what you don't know is that he did it to protect me and she did it because she thought she was dying…"

"What?" She interrupted, scared that she had missed something very vital in the files she read. She didn't know why Jason and Brenda had first married, but she was pretty sure it wasn't for love.

"Will you shut up for two seconds and listen," he asked. He wanted to laugh at how she nearly jumped out of her seat when he mentioned Brenda dying. It wasn't really funny, especially when going through it, but in hindsight most people couldn't help but to laugh.

"She wasn't…isn't really dying. The man that she was with…"

"Luis Alcazar," she interrupted again and leaned forward in her seat, like if she got close enough to him she could just suck up all the information without having to hear it from him.

"Stop it!" He laughed as she sat back and pouted like a little girl who was just told that she couldn't have her favorite doll, it was really quite endearing. "Now either you are going to let me talk, and finish my whole story or I'm going to tape your mouth shut and just let you sit there."

"Well of all the pigheaded…I've never…" Emily looked up at Sonny and noticed the look of seriousness on his face and decided that chewing him out at this point in time would not be a good idea. No matter how capable she was of defending herself, she was pretty sure that if he wanted to he could take her. And that brought a whole other, almost appealing picture into her head, and she slumped back into the chair and grinned, just because she looked like she was paying attention didn't mean she really had to be. He was, after all, not bad to look at and she was a woman wasn't she? What hot-blooded-female could resist staring those dimples while he talked? "Okay I agree; I'll be quiet."

"Good," he conceded knowing she was only half listening, he'd had his dimples all his life and could tell when a woman was staring at them and not listening to what he said, but if it kept her from interrupting, who gave a damn? "As I was saying she wasn't actually dying, Alcazar just told her she was so that she would stay with him, but by the time she figured that out she was already in love with Jason. And it was obvious to anyone with eyes that he was in love with her. It was all actually sort of sweet in a sickening-unmanly sort of way. Anyway after a little help from Gia and Lucky they were actually getting along—sort of, I mean as well as they do. And so then I just told him to go for it."

"Sorry to interrupt, but you told him to go for it? How did that work out? And what is this Gia chick like. I mean is she good for Lucky, does she treat him right, and what happened to Liz?"

"Yes I told him to go for it, Brenda and I were over a long time ago, and we just both needed to grow up and realize it. It worked out fine. And Gia is a great lady, at little on the selfish side everyone once in a while, but only to those she doesn't like; around Lucky, Brenda, Jason, Luke and I she perfectly—well almost normal. I mean she is in love with Lucky, how normal can she be. And Liz and the prince, Nikolas, got married and are now living in Greece. Go figure."

"Wow, just wow," Emily was utterly confused; she'd always known that Nik liked Liz, but she didn't know she returned the feelings, and married? At least Lucky had Gia, no matter how selfish Sonny thought she was, she couldn't be too bad, after all Lucky was in love with her. And then another thought popped into her head—"What about the Quartermaines?"

"Huh? Same old, same old. You have a sister apparently, her name is Skye and she's a bit of a bitch, actually she a lot of a bitch. Like a female A.J. only her plans to screw people over usually work."

"Really?" she said surprised, she thought that they already knew about all of her fathers' illegitimate children. "How old is she?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask the woman her birth date. Why would I care, Jason doesn't like her, actually most of the people I associate with don't like her," Sonny looked at Emily's annoyed face and gave her the best answer that he could. "She's older than A.J. that's all I know."

"What do you mean most of the people you know don't like her? Who do you know that likes her?"

Sonny shook his head and laughed, "Luke."

"Luke? Luke Spencer?"

"Yeah. Do you know what happened with Laura?"

"Yeah. I, uh, I was updated when she was institutionalized. I wanted to call Nikolas and Lucky, but obviously I couldn't."

"Well, Luke was not good for a long time after that. But then Skye sort of inserted herself into his life and they've been arguing ever since."

Emily nodded and laughed silently, "Well, that's good. I guess. Okay so what should I know about you?"

"You haven't looked at my FBI file. There probably isn't much more that you need to know."

"How do you know what I need to know," Emily looked over as his confused face and had to concede that her snarky comment wasn't really thought through and didn't make much sense. "My point is that I know you haven't really dated anyone in a while and I was just wondering how you were going to convince people that I'm worthy of your wonderful love and affection?"

"You really are a smart ass aren't you?"

"Yep!"

"Well," Sonny said, as he looked her up and down. "You're not exactly hard on the eyes. I mean you have a pretty face, nice sculpted body. You work out right…never mind of course you do, it's obvious. And when your not acting like a little brat your not to bad to be around. So I think that's pretty convincing."

"Awww…thanks. You're too sweet."

"Well you don't look like a dog or anything so…"

"Shit!" Emily interrupted him mid-sentence, jumped up from the chair she was sitting in and threw her coat on as she walked through the door.

"What?" Sonny asked as he walked out the door behind her and caught most of her rant.

"…I can't believe I forgot my baby, I must be the worst mother in the whole world. Dammit!"

"Baby?"

* * *

**Emily's Apartment**

"Hey, precious mommy's home," Emily said as she walked through the door with Sonny right behind her, still asking twenty questions about her baby. She hadn't answered any of them yet, it wasn't really his business.

"Hey Miss Bowen, how is it going," Kelly asked she saw Emily come through the door. She had worked for Emily for two years now, cleaning the house and taking care of her girl.

"I'm good Kelly and really sorry I'm home late. I just got side tracked," she said reaching into her purse and pulling out the woman's payment for the week. "Don't forget I'm gonna be gone for a while, maybe a very long while, so I think this is it. Thanks for all of your help."

"No problem Miss Bowen, it was my pleasure, and if you ever need anything just call," Kelly said as she hugged Emily and walked out the door.

"Bailey…Bailey sweetheart mommy's home," Emily said as she threw off her jacket and looked around her apartment, which was considerably empty. The FBI had already handled moving out all of her stuff, Bailey's stuff was all that was left and all of that was in the other room. "Bailey baby come on out, I'm really sorry I'm so late I didn't meant to forget you."

If Sonny had been surprised when Emily mentioned Bailey in the first place, then when he saw Emily's 'girl' the look on his face could only be describe as complete and utter shock. "It's a dog!"

"Of course she's a dog," Emily said as she rubbed the black Labrador behind the ears and let the dog lick her face. "What else would she be?"

"Well you kept saying your baby and you made of mention of the type of mother you were so I just assumed…" Sonny trailed of with a mixture of confusion, relief and amusement in his voice.

"Oh, you thought that Bailey was my child. Like a real life child?" She tried to keep from laughing, but the more she held it in the more annoyed Sonny seemed to become and the look on his face was just totally priceless. By the time she let it out she was rolling on the ground laughing while the dog jumped on her and licked her face.

"I'm really glad you think this is funny," Sonny said inadvertently getting the dogs attention and before he knew it he had paws pressing into his chest and chin was soaking wet. "Hey, dog get off of me, this is an Italian suit, do you have any idea how much this things cost."

This threw Emily into another fit of laughter and by the time she was finished Sonny suit had been ruined and he was on the ground looking at her with mild irritation and rubbing the dog's stomach.

"Well I guess you've made friends with each other," she said crawling over to the two of them and joining Sonny in rubbing the dog's belly. "Most people usually fall in love with her in the first couple of minutes, she's an angel. I got her about a year and a half ago. My neighbor's dog had puppies and she was the last one left, I wasn't going to get one since I'm gone so much, but she looked up at me with those big beautiful eyes and I was totally in love. I took her home that day and added taking care of her while I was out of town to the list of Kelly's duties."

"She's a Lab right, they're really great dogs," he said rising to his feet and helping her up along the way. "Is all of her stuff ready to go? I'm sure we can convince the hotel to let us keep her just for the night and the Towers don't have a policy against pets, although you Max isn't exactly fond of them."

Emily gathered up all of the dog's stuff and followed Sonny out of the door, while he took the dogs leash and led her onto the elevator. Emily laughed as a thought popped into her head—"You see this is going to work out great. You're already warming up to my baby; we should make a perfect family."

The words slipped out of her mouth before she even knew what she was saying and by the time she was done the were both staring at each other across the elevator, frozen in that position with their eye's locked in a trance until the dogs bark pulled them out.

"We should get back to the hotel we're both gonna need some sleep tonight, we have a big day tomorrow," Sonny said looking away from her.

"Yeah…a big day," she responded. She spent the rest of the ride down to the lobby feeling like she had been rejected and not knowing why.


	3. Chapter Three

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

* * *

"Joseph Sorel here to see you," the guard said as he entered his bosses office and waited for a reply. 

"Send him in."

Sorel walked slowly into the office of Andrejs Nikolai and looked around the shadowy room. The shades were pulled so that he could only see a few feet in front of him without the light that was shinning from the desk. Everything had a very medieval feel to it with the high back wooden chairs and the huge fireplace behind the desk. The paintings on the wall were dark and abstract, he had no idea what they were supposed to represent.

"Did you get the information I asked for Mr. Sorel?" Nikolai leaned forward menacingly and dropped the picture he had been looking at.

"Ye—Yes. It came in a few hours ago. Apparently Sonny Corinthos met Emily Quartermaine while on vacation in Puerto Rico. She has no memory of the night she disappeared and until Corinthos showed up had no memory of Port Charles at all. They seem to be together now."

"And you don't think its odd Joseph," Nikolai began putting an emphasis on the name. "That Ms. Quartermaine has chosen now to resurface, just as Corinthos seems to be becoming interested in entering into business with us?"

"No, Sir I don't. She has only been in Port Charles now for twenty-four hours, I'm not even sure her family knows she's back. And he has only been out of town on vacation for a month at the most, the activities on the accounts started six months ago. There is no way the two things are tied together."

"You'd better hope your right, because if you are by some very small chance incorrect, I will be taking you punishment out in blood. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes Sir, but I assure you, it isn't possible that they are working together. I mean have you seen the girl, there's no way either Corinthos or Morgan would allow it."

"Yes I have seen her. Dismissed," he said with mild shake of his hand as if Sorel's presences had all of the sudden become an afterthought. After the door had been closed Nikolai reached out and picked of the picture from the desk and ran his dark fingertips over lips of the girl in the picture. His blue eyes darkened as he shifted his other had to remove a loose strand of his black hair from his view of the picture. He slowly continued running his finger tips over the face of the girl in the picture, stopping when he reached her chocolate eyes and resting them there. "You are a very beautiful girl indeed Ms. Quartermaine. I wonder if you realize just how much like your mother you are."

* * *

"Are you ready for this?" Sonny smiled as Emily groaned and turned around on the couch to look at him. 

"Why does everyone keep asking me that? Of course I'm ready."

"Why do you keep playing with the knife then?" Sonny asked as he reached across her and lifted the steak knife from her shaking fingers. Having a nervous Emily around sharp objects, he decided, was never a good idea. He hadn't seen her in years and decided very quickly that while she was gone she had picked up some interesting habits, carving into desks, tables and anything else of great value she could get her hands on was one of them. "Stop worrying, it'll be fine."

"That's easy for you to say, all you have to do it sit here and look pretty I'm the one who has to tell Brenda where I've been for these last few years and make Gia like me."

"Okay first of all, I have more to do that look pretty…" Sonny broke off as Emily started giggling uncontrollably. "What's so damn funny now?"

"Sor—Sorry. I was just picturing you sitting around with you hands folded neatly in your lap and smiling like some debutante. Just ignore me."

"I wish I could," he whispered, but then continued on. "Second, Brenda wasn't exactly truthful about where she was for a while there and Gia will either hate you or like you that can't be changed, trust me."

"You know my mother used to tell me never to trust a person, especially a man, who said trust me."

* * *

"I thought you said we were gonna meet the mystery woman last night, what happened?" Gia had been hounding Lucky and Jason for the past fifteen minutes as the drove to the Towers to finally get the big 'meeting' out of the way. They had meant to do it the night before, but there was a problem with one of the shipments that they had to check out. Now, that they were in the elevator on their way up Brenda thought that Jason might just reached into his pocket, pull out his gun and shoot Gia if she didn't shut up. _God, he was cute!_

"Gia, give the poor guys a break, we will meet her in less than five minutes, I think you can hold out that long."

"That's what you think. You just don't know how much patience I don't have."

"Gia darling, my love, my heart, if you don't shut up I might not mind so much when Jason shoots you," Lucky smiled as he wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Jason leaned on the back of the elevator watching the whole conversation take place with only mild interest. He hadn't actually been paying attention to anything Gia had been saying for the past ten minutes, not that that was different from normal. Emily's reappearance had been on is mind from the second he saw her walk into that room, and the more he thought about it the more the _plan_ began to eat away at him. He had always been all for people making their own decision, especially Emily, but something about the situation didn't seem right, and he couldn't decide if it was the danger, the looks Emily and Sonny were giving each other, or waiting to see Brenda's reaction to it being Emily that Sonny was supposed to be in love with. He knew how she thought and if it was a woman she didn't know, it would be easy to hate her and therefore believe that it wouldn't last, but if Brenda believed that Sonny and Emily were in love she'd be much more likely to act on lingering feelings.

"Jase, what's wrong?" Speak of the…angel. God, now he was thinking of her, Brenda Barrett-Morgan, as an angel. When had he become so damned domesticated?

"Nothing."

"You sure?" Brenda stepped closer and wrapped her fingers around his slowly, allowing them to linger on the parts that were softer than any mans hands had the right to be. "You seem worried."

He looked down at her, into her eyes and tried to see if she loved him, if she was with him because she wanted to be. In the beginning they had been together to protect Sonny and slowly he had fallen for her, for the way she smiled, the way she laughed, and how easily she annoyed him. She had won him over more than any woman ever had before and for the first time since he woke up he was feeling scared. Genuine tear at your heart and eat you alive scared. He held her eyes for a while longer hoping he could see something, some sign of caring. After a few second she just smiled up at him, completely content, and he knew, when this was over they'd be okay.

"No, I'm not worried."

"Good." The elevator beeped and the four of them stepped off, turned the corner to Sonny's penthouse, and froze in front of Johnny.

"Are they ready for us?" Max nodded his answer to Lucky's question and cautiously opened the door. He had seen Emily and Sonny come in the night before and didn't know what had been happening lately, but he knew that there was no way Jason would allow his sister to be involved in the _business_ without good reason.

Gia was the first through the door, she had been waiting to see this mystery woman and there was no way someone else was getting there first. When she pushed through she saw Sonny sitting on the couch scowling, as usual, at the woman sitting across from him. Her back was to the door so all Gia could see was the long waves of brown hair flowing down the bare back of the girl. She was wearing a black dress with spaghetti straps and black heels—both Gucci. Good taste.

Sonny looked up as the door flew open and almost laughed out loud, of course Gia would be the first to come barging in. The girl had no patience. He smiled at Emily and whispered in her ear as everyone else entered, "Now or never. This is your last chance to make a mad dash out the door."

Emily rose from her seat and turned to just in time to see Jason walk in and close the door behind him. She smiled ruefully and then turned her head to Lucky who seemed to be offering a look of condolence as the person who she assumed was Gia studied her clothing and came back with what Emily hoped was an approving look. And then there was Brenda standing in the middle of Sonny penthouse with tears shinning in her eyes. This was gonna be a long, hard night.

"Emily?" Brenda gathered her thoughts slowly and then dashed across the room and wrapped her arms around Emily. "Oh my God, I can't believe you're here. When I came back everyone said you had disappeared, I mean I just assumed that you were dead. I'm so sorry, I can't believe I just thought you were dead, and now here you are with…"

The second Brenda broke off her speech; Emily knew that she had realized what was happening, who she was supposed to be. Here it comes, she thought.

"Sonny. You're with Sonny," Brenda's happiness wavered into anger for a second and then was immediately squashed back down. Emily was alive…and Jason knew it. Quickly her anger rose again and she whipped around to face him head-on. "You asshole, you knew it. You let Gia worry and you let me think he was with some skank again and you knew all along that it was Emily. How could you not tell me?"

"I told him not to," Sonny said from behind her, barely catching her attention.

"Since when do you lie to me?" Brenda pointed her finger and Jason angrily and then forgetting her anger, again turned to Emily and smiled, "I can't believe your really here."

"Hey," Gia yelled. "I hate to break up this happy little reunion, but what the hell is going on?"

"Sweetheart, we've talked about this. You really need to learn to use some more tact," Lucky grinned as he wrapped his arms around Gia and lead her to the chair in front of him, sitting down and pulling her into his lap.

Emily smiled at the comedy relief and then followed suit and sat down next to Sonny on the couch as Jason pulled a chair over so he could be next to Brenda, who had fallen into the last seat available.

"Okay. Ummm…I guess this is my cue to start talking," Emily reached for Sonny's hand and held on tight, hoping that it would look natural to Brenda and Gia, and Lucky and Jason wouldn't read too much into it. "I'm just gonna give you the overview of what the guys know, I don't want to bore you with all the details. But for the past four years I've pretty much been living without any memory. A few months ago I met Sonny in Puerto Rico, and obviously he knew who I was. We started talking and he helped me to piece things together…and here I am."

"Yeah. Okay, I hate to be the voice of sanity here, because as you'll soon find out that doesn't happen often, but I think we might need more than just an overview. I mean I never knew you, but the last I heard you were at a rave with Lucky, Nik, Juan, and Miss. Goody-two-shoe's, and then you disappeared. So I'm just a little curious."

"I second that," Brenda chimed in as Gia finished.

"How about I take it from here?" Emily just nodded her head and stayed quiet, this really was her responsibility, but as long as Sonny was offering… "You both know I went on vacation a few months ago. While I was gone I stopped at a diner in Puerto Rico to eat, I saw Emily working there, I tried to talk to her, but she had no idea who I was. I thought about calling and telling Jason, but I didn't know if she had any clue of who she was so I just came in a few more times, eventually I started talking about Port Charles and asked her were she was from. When she said she didn't know I showed her a picture of Jason and asked her if she knew who he was, when she said no, I told her what I knew about her life. At first she didn't believe me, but as I started telling her more she began remembering. The more she remembered, the more time we spent together and that was how we got together. Eventually she remembered everything, but that night and after a while we figured out that she must have been drugged and lost her memory, that was when we called Jason…"

"And here were are!" Emily laughed as she wrapped her arms around Sonny and smiled.

"How romantic," Gia said.

"Yeah romantic." Brenda wasn't anywhere near as convinced and Gia was. She knew that Jason would never allow Sonny to date his sister, and now they were living together. No way, something was going on here and she was going to find out what it was.

"Look I'd really love to stay up and talk to you guys some more, but I've had a long couple of months and I'm just really tired. Can we talk another time," Emily asked.

"I think Bren and I are free tomorrow, how about then?" Emily agreed and so did Brenda. "Well then if that's all the excitement for tonight, we should get going. I was really nice to meet you Emily, as short, and weird as it was," Gia smiled as Lucky gave Emily a hug bye, and they left.

"I think we're gonna leave too, I'll see you tomorrow Em," Brenda said as she walked over, gave Emily a hug and waved at Sonny.

"Bye Em," Jason gave Emily a hug also, told Sonny they'd talk later, and the left right behind Brenda.

"Wasn't too bad," Sonny laughed as he got up and poured himself a glass of Bourbon and then offered one to Emily. He winced as she knocked it back. Hadn't she been an addict? Where they allowed to drink?

"I need this." Was her only response before swallowing the contents of the glass and then looking at him questioningly. "Do you thing they bought it?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Good 'cause I don't."


	4. Chapter Four

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Girlfearless AKA FallenAngel

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

* * *

Emily carefully slid back onto the couch and crossed her legs over each other as she reached into one of the two bags in front of her and began eating, trying to make as much noise as possible so that Sonny would notice. She pulled chips out of the first bag and crumbled them together and then dropped them back in slowly looking across the room to see if he would notice, and when he didn't she went for the second bag and began eating. _'Hmmmm-ing'_ as often as possible until she was sure that he couldn't ignore the noise she was making.

Without turning around Sonny asked, "What are you doing over there?"

"Eating"

"Eating?" Sonny turned around quickly at her half answer and looked at the two bags of what she called food that were resting on her lap. Pixie sticks and chips. Great. "Stop it."

"What do you mean stop it? I'm hungry and I need to eat something."

"Not that, it's horrible for you."

"Oh," Emily replied smiling. "Don't worry I took the dog for a walk earlier, I've already burned off the fat."

"I'm not talking about the fat. Look, just stop it, okay, I will fix you something to eat, but if you continue with that you're gonna have a clogged artery or something. Whatever you want to eat, within reason, I'll cook it."

Emily pretended to weigh the situation carefully as she looked from the bags in front of her to Sonny, and finally she just shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. If you're offering, I want bacon, eggs and…pancakes."

"Pancakes and bacon are just as…" Sonny cut himself off before he finished as he noticed her reaching back into the bag of chips. Just as long as he didn't have to listen to her eat those things he'd cook just about anything. "Alright, bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Just don't get used to eating that crap in my house, its disgusting."

"Whatever!" Emily happily put down the two bags and lay further back on the couch. With the exception of pixie sticks, Popsicles, and pizza, junk food wasn't her favorite either, but she wasn't about to tell Sonny that she usually just ordered pizza for dinner. Not if he was willing to cook anything she wanted just as long as he thought she was gonna be eating something unhealthy. No, this was one quirk about Sonny Corinthos that she'd planned on milking for all it was worth.

"What the hell are you doing?" Alexis came into the penthouse yelling with Milo hot on her heels.

"Umm… Reading," Emily replied as she held up the magazine and waved her hand to let Milo know he could leave.

"Not you. Sonny."

"Oh, he's cooking." Suddenly Alexis grunted and plopped down on the seat that Sonny had vacated only minutes before. She scrunched up her nose and stared and Emily, a look of sheer annoyance playing across her face.

"Alright that's not what I meant either. Let me try again using only small words, because apparently everyone has gone crazy and can't think properly today. I was referring to the deal that Sonny made with…"

"You're nuts lady," Tommy came flying through the door after Alexis, and proceeded to shut it in Johnny's face before the guard had the chance to ask if it was okay for him to be there.

"Me!" Emily leaned back on the couch smiling as Alexis screamed and then got to her feet and stood toe to toe with Tommy; she knew that they would get along well. "You're the one trying to screw my client."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are—unbelievable. You've got me standing here arguing with you like a six year old."

"Excuse me," Emily interrupted the two 'six-year-olds'. "What is going on here?"

"Your boss is crazy," Alexis huffed as she sat back down in the chair.

"Look who's talking," Tommy mumbled as he slid onto the couch next to Emily and shoved his hand into the bag of chips that was between them.

Sonny came out of the kitchen when he heard Alexis' voice and had been standing in to doorway since the first "Are too!" laughing at the exchange between the two 'adults,' but he was quickly getting curious as to why it was happening in his home so he decided to break into the silence the other occupants of the room had going. "What is going on in here?"

Alexis turn around in her chair and glared accusingly at Sonny, "You took a deal."

"Yes."

Exasperated she turned to Emily for help, and noticed the only other female and non-monosyllabic speaker quickly duck her head and pretend to read. "Why?"

"Why what," Sonny asked, confused.

"Why are you taking a deal?"

"To do something good for once," Tommy interrupted before Sonny had a chance to answer.

"Shut up!" Alexis and Sonny said in unison before Emily broke out into giggles on the couch and Tommy and Alexis went back to arguing.

"Enough!" Once he had everyone's attention Sonny continued on with the explanation he was about to give before being interrupted. "Alexis, I agreed to help, because doing so gets rid of Sorel and other things that I don't want to deal with that are going on in my—in Port Charles. And nothing I do will be held against me, so what does it matter? Did you even look at the contract that was sent to you?"

"Yes, and it has too many loopholes."

"Then fix it. That is your job."

"That's what I was trying to do, but when I asked for more information from Mr. Congeniality over there just said, '_That's classified._' How am I supposed to work with that?"

"Okay. You have to give her more information or else I won't be going through with this," Sonny responded, seriously annoyed at the fact that two adults couldn't work these problems out themselves.

"No!" Emily finally piped up from her place on the couch. "Tommy you have to give her all the information, you know how much I need—just please tell her what she wants"

Tommy studied Emily for a second seriously considering how much work she had put into this operation and how much she had to loose, had already lost. So much of her life, of both their lives, was wrapped up in this that he couldn't bare to see it go down the tubes now. If it had just been time and energy she had put into this he wouldn't be so worried, but he knew, better that anyone, that Emily Quartermaine had a lot more than all the other players in this game knew riding on this. He wasn't gonna let her down now, not when they were only a few steps away from the truth that they had been searching for longer the anyone knew, since way before this investigation started. "Fine I'll explain, but if I'm gonna have to suffer this woman's company I'm at least getting some enjoyment out if it. Come on crazy-lady were going to lunch."

Alexis froze as he began to walk out the door and then came back through when she didn't follow and pulled her up out of her chair, dragging her along with him and shutting the door behind the both.

"I give them a week," Emily laughed, trying to keep her mind off the fact that her whole life had just flashed before her eyes and there were way too many lies and gaps in it for her to stop now.

"For what," Sonny asked as he sat in the chair Alexis had vacated.

"A week before they got at it, you know have sex, do the beast with two backs, the horizontal…"

"I get the point," Sonny interrupted. "And I don't think they will. He's not her type."

"Oh," Emily said snottily. "And who is? You? Is that it Sonny, are you jealous?"

"No."

She didn't know why she was acting so rude, but wasn't about to apologize for it, not to him. "That's right, I forgot, you only go for the bimbo's. Sorry for insulting you by insinuating you might have found your taste and started dating women who weren't idiots. I mean with the exception of Brenda who dumped you on your ass for my brother."

"You don't know me little girl, so I'd be careful, before your mouth gets you into a situation the rest of you can't get out of," Sonny replied with a quick flash of anger in his eyes.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. Speaking of Brenda, I think we need to tell her and Gia the truth, neither of them are idiots and it won't be long before they start to wonder what's going on here."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it puts them in too much danger, and it's bad enough having one woman with a mouth and an attitude to deal with, I don't need three."

* * *

"What's wrong?" Brenda looked across the room at Jason, who had spent the last two hours sitting at his desk ignoring her existence and going over 'paperwork.'

Jason turned around and studied Brenda's face, he really hated lying to her, but there was no other way. Even if he thought she could deal with the truth, it wasn't his decision; everyone, mostly Sonny, agreed that it wouldn't be a good idea for Brenda and Gia to know. It was just too big a risk. "Nothing's wrong."

"Please don't lie to me Jason, I can deal with it when you say I'm not allowed to know, it annoys me, but I deal. Just don't sit right in my face and lie to me. You've been worried since Emily got back. Do you think something's gonna happen to her? That Sonny's gonna leave her."

Jason looked at Brenda suspiciously and finally asked the question he though he knew that answer to, but just needed to hear it from her mouth. "Do you want him too?"

"No—why would I wan—Oh, I see. You want to know if I'm still in love with him, right?"

"No," he responded very promptly when he saw the hurt flash across her face. There was no reason for him to be insecure and he knew that it wasn't his real problem. It was the lies. He hated it, knowing that there would be things about his job that she couldn't know hadn't prepared him for that fact that there was a part of his life that he couldn't share with the woman he loved. He asked—demanded her truthfulness and full understanding, when he knew he couldn't give the same. And it was driving him crazy, because he also knew that there would come a day when she could no longer take the lies and the danger and would leave him; it was inevitable, because it was what he would do.

"Jase," Brenda said his name as a question and a prayer as she rose from her seat on the couch and went to sit in his lap. "Can't you just tell me what's wrong? Just this once?"

"I did tell you. Nothing."

"I get that you can't tell me about business, I really do, but what I don't get is why Emily gets to be involved in it and I don't, because you and I both know she is. Whenever the phone rings and we're all together, you, Emily, Sonny and Lucky all get this look on your faces like time is up and the game is over. I just want to know what game your playing and if it's gonna get you hurt, that's all. I don't wanna play too. I promise. I just want—need to know what Emily does."

"I'm not married to Emily, Bren I don't get to choose what she knows."

"No, but she is your sister. God Jason, I'm just asking if everything is okay. If we're all gonna be okay. That's all, for now. Just tell me that."

"We're fine."

"Funny thing is, I don't believe you."

"I don't know what to say then, there's nothing I can do."

"Yes there is, you just won't." By the time she was done speaking Brenda was off his lap and walking across the room to get her jacket. "Just—just forget I asked okay. I'm done fighting. I have to work."

Jason watched her walk out of the house with tears streaming down her face and knew that he couldn't go after her, nothing he said would make this better. He was doing the one thing he asked her not to, lying. And more importantly he was lying about the important stuff, the personal stuff, because he wasn't sure they would all make it through this okay. And it killed him.

* * *

Emily quickly popped up from her place on the couch and stood eye to eye with Sonny who had started to leave the room, but had been pulled back when she called him a coward and continued on with her tirade, "It's unfair to keep secrets like this and you know it Sonny. You don't have to worry about Brenda and Gia, Jason and Lucky do, and of course you have no problem making them lie to the women they love, even though there is more danger now."

"They can't handle it," Sonny said taking a step closer to Emily even though he felt a fire begin to burn in the pit of his stomach and knew he should step back, because there were only two ways it could be put out, sex and fighting. And neither was an acceptable risk to take with Emily Quartermaine, Jason's little sister.

"Do you underestimate everyone, or just women?"

"You know what sweetheart, this isn't world women tend to do well in."

"How do you know," Emily countered feeling that same fire burning in the pit of her stomach and knowing only the same cures for it that he did. "You always run away from women. From Brenda and every other woman you've screwed since then, don't blame your control issues on women being able to handle things. It's you who can't handle the idea of a woman actually having good idea's independent from yours"

"This conversation is over," Sonny said as he again turned and started back into the kitchen to finish or salvage the breakfast he could smell burning, and to get away from the burning she was causing inside of him.

"Look at me," Emily grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around to face her. "Don't ever treat me like I'm insignificant again. I don't work for you, and I can handle just as much, maybe more, than you!"

"Really?" Sonny asked seductively as he stepped towards her and continued walking so that she had no choice but to walk backward toward the fireplace.

"Yes."

"You can take anything I dish out?"

"Yes," she said firmer this time than she did the last, as she feels his breathe slide across her face and involuntarily began to wet her lips.

"We'll see." His mouth that was once only a whisper away now it was on hers and setting fire to her whole body as his hands slid up her arm, crawled across her neck and eventually locked into her and held on there.

Her whole body was humming with the tension that had been invading it from the second he walked into that interrogation room looking sexy and completely desirable. Her mind was fragmenting into a hundred directions and she wasn't sure which to follow to get her out of the place she was lost in, until she heard him speak.

"Yeah you handled that real well," he said as he let go of her body and she stumbled back into the fireplace.

"You-you did that on purpose," she wasn't sure if it was a question or a comment just that she was, for the first time in her life, terrified.

"Yes. I did that on purpose and I'm amazed anyone believes we're together when you can barely handle an insignificant little kiss," he said it with a coldness in his voice that he didn't feel at the moment. Never had anyone touched him so completely and made him want to scream, cry and love all with the same intensity. For once in his life, Sonny Corinthos was terrified.

"Insignificant," Emily said, her voice regaining its former strength. "You know what you're right, compared to you, I am inexperienced. Who wouldn't be? You screw every woman you come in contact with, and some twice on Sunday, but let me tell you something. I'm far from a little girl and if you ever think if using sex against me again, I'll make you pay for it.

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Well then, let's go. I thought the only thing I got from dealing with the FBI was Sorel handled. If I'd know I could have a government whore too, I would have taken them up on their offer a long time ago." Even as the words left his mouth Sonny regretted them. As he saw the pain flash across her face he wanted to hold her and tell her that he was sorry and he would do anything to make all of this go away for her. To make it so she was never put in this situation, but a part of him, deep down knew if all if this hadn't come about he would never have felt her mouth on his and never felt how her body melted into his and that was what pushed him to hurt her as deeply a quickly as possible.

Emily stood in the middle of the living room staring at Sonny trying to push the anger down as quickly as possible, because she could feel it bubbling further and further up until is stuck in her throat like a ten pound watermelon and she wanted to cry at the absurdity of it all. For a split second she wondered if he wasn't right, if she wasn't some government whore. Then she realized that he couldn't have been further from the truth, because for the first time in years she hadn't been thinking about breaking this case or bringing Nikolai down, all she wanted was him. The only thing she was thinking about was how Sonny Corinthos made her feel, and it was good.

Quietly and without bumping into him, Emily stepped around Sonny and walked out the door of his penthouse. After shutting the door behind her she started to walk onto the elevator and saw her brother standing there with his leather jacket on and a helmet in his hands. "You going for a ride?"

"Yeah. You okay?"

"Uh huh. Can I come with you?"

"Yeah sure." After answering her Jason heard the glass slam against the wall in Sonny's penthouse and started to walk towards it, but Emily caught his arm and when he saw the look in her eyes he turned back and pulled her onto the elevator with him.


	5. Chapter Five

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Girlfearless AKA FallenAngel

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

* * *

Emily viciously kicked a rock on the ground in front of her trying, in vain, to control the anger that was again rising up in her throat. Who the hell did Sonny Corinthos think he was kissing her? With those soft, beautiful, amaz—no, no that was not the point. He had kissed her, used sex against her and succeeded in finding a weakness…the bad boy. No matter where she went or what she did there was this small part in the back of her mind that would always choose the guy who could rip her world apart before choosing the one who made it whole. And of course Sonny could rip it apart. Did he even know how easy it would be, that all he would have to do would be take her in his arms and just pretend, for a second, to love her? Did he know that was all she ever wanted and every time she stepped into a room with him those feelings flared to a point she had never reached before? Did he know?

"Man, how can you stand him?"

"Who," Jason asked as he sat on the rock she had kicked only seconds before.

"Who," she replied incredulously, "Mr. Know-it-all. Sonny."

"What happened?"

"Why don't you ask him? You can nurse his precious ego while you're at it, isn't that your job?" They both sat quietly for a second after that, him thoughtful and her remorseful. "I'm sorry, I had no right to say that, and this isn't your fight."

"Okay. What happened?" He repeated it again this time with less care in his voice and more annoyance.

"I told him we need to tell Gia and Brenda the truth. If we don't they could mess something up and then we'd all be well and truly screwed. And anyway, do you really want to lie to her?"

"No…but…"

"But what," she asked her now infamous anger again rising. "Don't you trust her? Or have you fallen into the same mind thought as Sonny, _'Women don't do well in this business_.' Huh, is that it?"

"Yes," Jason noticed her eyebrow raise to a dangerous level and knew if he didn't expand quickly she would be yelling and he was already developing a headache. "Yes, I trust her. But what I do isn't good, I don't want her to learn and hate me for it. She couldn't handle it."

"She couldn't or you couldn't?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're worried she'll see something and change her mind."

"That's not it," he said as he shook his head and looked anywhere but into her eyes. _This was so damn hard._ "I know she'll change her mind. I just don't want her to know too much when she does."

"Bullshit," Emily countered furiously, she was getting sick of defending the whole female population to raving chauvinists. "I thought you didn't lie. Do you honestly think she—we don't know the truth about who you are and the things you've done, not only for Sonny, but also for yourself? Do you think we don't know that you're on some sort of quest to prove you're not damaged?"

He started to speak again and she cut him off. "I'm not rationalizing here, I know you've killed people, it's your job. I get that, so does Brenda. Would we worry less if you were a doctor—YES! Would we love you more—NO! That's not possible. All she's asking for is the same things she gives you. Love, trust, cooperation and acceptance and she's not gonna wait much longer to get them."

"She won't or you won't," he asked throwing her words back in her face.

"What are you talking about? I have those things from you, that's why I don't understand not giving them to her."

"No. Not my love, trust, cooperation or acceptance. Sonny's."

"You are right on one count. I want his trust, nothing else."

"Then be trustworthy," he whispered it, carefully, still not sure if **he** wanted Sonny to love or lust after his little sister. I wasn't right; she wasn't supposed to be a part of this world, but she was. He knew that she would no more settle down and marry a doctor then he would become one, it was too late for that. But did it have to be Sonny? He didn't know. Didn't want to think about the possibilities, not with everything else going on, but that wasn't gonna stop him from talking to his friend later.

"What does that mean? Be trustworthy?"

"I know you Em, I can tell when you're hiding something and so can Lucky. We've given you time to come clean with the truth, whatever it is, but your not gonna stand her and yell about Sonny's trust when you aren't even earning it."

"Fine!"

* * *

Sonny walked slowly into the Haunted Star and looked around; the events of earlier in the day were still weighing heavily on his mind. He thought about yelling for Luke, but dismissed the idea when he noticed there was no chair set up or liquor out, and he quickly turned to leave.

"Hey stop," Skye yelled as she stepped through the doorway next to the bar. "What the hell do you want—Look if you're some kind of burglar I gotta tell you we don't have any money."

"First off," Sonny responded as he turned, "why would you tell a burglar to stop when they are leaving? And second, this is a casino, if you don't have money your pretty much screwed."

"Oh," she grimaced and walked toward him. "It's you, the cradle robbing Don."

"News travels fast," Sonny smiled as he walked toward her, his deep dimples showing. "Does this mean the Quartermaines know or has Luke been talking in his sleep?"

"Just for that, I'm not gonna tell you. Luke!" Sonny cringed as Skye yelled for her new fiancés attention. "Your ex-business partner is here. Please come talk to him before I kill him or he sees how well we are doing and wants in. One mobster investor is enough for a lifetime." Skye then turned and looked at him in a way the was half sizing up and half annoyed as shook her head, "Unless you'd like to do me a favor and take the place of a bottle blonde that I've been trying to get rid of for a couple of years now."

"No, I don't think so."

"Woman, stop yelling you're scaring my boy," Luke smiled as he walked into the room in front of Lucky, who was looking at Sonny sheepishly, and kissed his fiancé.

Sonny shook his head and then turned to Lucky, "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Give the kid a break," Luke said, humor lacing his already bourbon-coated voice. "He was helping his old man celebrate, but since he can't hold his liquor he has been dismissed."

Skye looked between the two older men and laughed out loud before grabbing Lucky by the arm, "Come on, I'll drop you off at home on my way to the Quartermaine's. We both need to get ready for the engagement party tonight, which you will be attending!" She told Sonny.

"Yes mam, wouldn't miss it."

"Good," she smiled and pulled Lucky out of the Haunted Star. "Let's go kid."

"Damn," Sonny shook his head as he looked after her and laughed. "Already I have to make a correction on what I've told Emily. Skye isn't nearly as annoying as I remembered."

"That's all me man," Luke said as he stepped behind the bar and bent over to full glasses or bourbon for himself and Sonny. "I've calmed her a bit."

"Yeah. Sure."

"So what have you and little princess gotten into a tiff over this early in your relationship?"

"Wha—little princess?"

"Yeah, Ms. Quartermaine. What did you do to screw it up?"

"What makes you think I screwed up?"

"First, you and I only speak when we have screwed something in our lives up. Second, I know you, and I know Emily well enough to guess that she isn't following the orders you're giving. And as convincing of a liar as my son is, you and her coming to Port Charles in love all the sudden is very far fetched. Especially with her big brother around."

"You think she's too good for me?"

"No—well, yes, but that's not the point. I think she's too strong for you, always has been. Even more that she knows. That girl has had a tough life and I'm sure we don't know the half of it, but we do know she's fought her way through all of it. You tend to date women who are weaker, but for some reason you also tend to fall, really fall, for the strong ones. So, what's the problem?"

Sonny looked at Luke and wanted to curse that intuition the other man had into the way he thought. It was ridiculous have his flaws pointed out by someone who acted like they hadn't yet made it out of the sixth grade, but it was what he came for so—what the hell! "I-she-we…Look I kissed her okay. And I felt something."

"And here I was thinking you were a big boy and all. Okay, her I go, see what you felt was probably her tong…"

"Not that you idiot," Sonny interrupted him before the vision of Emily, naked and writhing, came back into his mind as it had been since his lips touched hers, and if he was being honest even before that. "That I understand. Believe me sexual attraction I can handle, even with her."

"Jason's little sister."

"She's a grown woman."

"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

"Neither," Sonny responded. "As much as it should be, her age isn't the problem. I mean I know she's young, too young, but she's not child. I'm not sure she ever really was. The problem is this; I want to tell her things. I don't want to lie to her, ever. And I don't want her to lie to me."

"Like that's new," Luke countered.

"Shut up man, I'm opening up here."

"Well, then, by-all-means continue."

"Okay, here's the thing, I've always played the hero, been the protector. To some extent even with Brenda and now here I am, faced with this new person, who doesn't need my help or protection," Sonny finished defeated. He knew he sounded weak and oddly enough, he couldn't muster the energy to care.

"Well, I haven't seen her, but I think you're wrong. She doesn't need your physical protection, but emotionally that girl is very scared running from something huge."

"Your know something I don't know," Sonny asked half annoyed at the thought of anyone having more information than him, especially about Emily.

"Nah man, you know, people like us, we recognize it in each other. The hurt and pain, the lies we tell ourselves to get through the day. Look at this fucked up family we've assemble here and tell me what we've all got in common."

"Screwed up childhoods."

"Yup, even Lucky. I mean those two saw it in each other automatically."

"Yeah, but I thought she and her biological mother got along well, that's what Jason always said."

"Okay, there are still the Quartermaines who had more than enough time to screw her up, but I don't think so, that sore in her heart, her soul, it's been there a while. Maybe she lied, and she didn't get along well with her mom, I don't know. But I do know two things, one: unless they're Cassadine, you don't speak ill of the dead and two: she doesn't talk about her father or even her childhood very often."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Just—just talk to her, for real. Whatever it is you guys have got going on I'm betting it's big and whether you guys end up in each others lives after it's over isn't the point. I think to survive, right now, you're both gonna have to be truthful. God forbid."

"Alright, I'll see you. Look we gotta do this again sometime when we haven't screwed up."

"Sure," Luke laughed and stared down at the glasses that neither had taken a drink from during the whole conversation. Sonny followed his eye line and also noticed the full glasses and smiled, a real conversation with no alcohol. Interesting.

"One more thing," Luke said as he walked Sonny out. "Don't make my son lie to his girlfriend. There's no point in it. Eventually even the biggest and baddest of us end up crying on our woman's shoulder before we go to be at night. It's the natural order of things, and if they can't know about our day, we can't cry and it all gets screwed up. I learned that the hard way."

"Sentimental old bastard aren't you?"

"Just wait 'till that girl gets her hooks in you. You'll be thinkin' about things you never thought mattered…and you'll love it."

"Already am," Sonny laughed inwardly as he began working on his apology.


	6. Chapter Six

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

Feedback: Always welcome…craved in fact.

* * *

Lies. God how they weigh on a persons mind, Emily thought as she looked out at the calm waters in front of her. Each time she told another one it etched itself onto her soul and in the last four years that very soul had become darker that she'd ever though possible. Carefully she turned and walked back to sit on the bench she had vacated only minutes before. Jason had decided to come to the docks after she told him the truth. The truth, she wasn't even sure what the really was anymore either. The only thing that she was sure of was that her brother had been there for her through more than he knew. He had been her strength even when he didn't know where she was. She knew he had searched for her the longest and the hardest, and of the sleepless nights he spent waiting for her to come home. She knew that for so long his hurt and hope was what drove her to survive and come back to him, to her family, to her home. And now here she sat waiting for him to say something, anything just as long as she could hear his calming voice it didn't matter if he yelled, screamed, or cried. Just as long as he spoke to her.

"You have to tell him," Jason said answering her silent prayers, until she noticed the catch in his voice and the tears in his eyes. Then her heart broke again and she prayed for his silence. "I—I'll tell Lucky if you need me to, I can explain it to him, but Sonny is your job."

"I know he'll see it as a betrayal. I'll tell him, but you have to know how sorry I am Jase really, I'm so…"

"No, just don't," he interrupted gaining his composure again. "I get it, I understand why you made the choice you did, but you have to tell him the truth. Not to soothe his ego, or because he'll see it as a betrayal, but because he risked a lot trusting you. You have to let him know what's really going on here. You have to tell Sonny the truth."

"Tell me the truth about what?" Sonny came walking up the docks toward Emily and Jason smiling wider that either had seen since this whole fiasco started. "What is it that I don't know?"

"Uh…Sonny, hey."

"Yeah. Hi Emily. What are you telling me the truth about?"

"I'll let Em tell you, I need to talk to Lucky about a few things," Jason said as he made his retreat and then turned back to Sonny. "I've got my cell phone if you need anything."

"Okay," Sonny replied a little hesitantly. "Oh, hey! Tell Lucky that you two can stop lying to your girls now."

"No. Sonny just—just hold off on that a little. You can decide before Luke and Skye's thing tonight and tell us there."

"What? No I'm sure, go ahead and tell them. As a matter of fact I called Gia and Brenda and told them to meet you at the Grille for lunch—well a late lunch. I also bought them both new dresses for tonight so you and Lucky are gonna have to think of you own ways to show how sorry you are."

"Sonny, just wait on that a little while. Emily needs to tell you some things."

"Emily can tell me whatever she wants Jason, I've made my decision. There is no reason to keep lying to them right now; especially considering that fact that I'm sure things are about to change. Just go and tell them before I change my mind," Sonny said as he watched Jason leave and dragged a hand through his hair before turning back to Emily. "So what is it you have to tell me?"

* * *

"What the hell is going on here?" Gia asked as she slipped into the chair that was being held out for her. "Sonny is calling us for meetings with our significant others now, pretty soon he's gonna be planning out our dates and buying us dresses for them. Although I have to say the nicest place Lucky has ever taken me to is Eli's for ribs so this is a nice change."

"Significant others?" Brenda smiled down into her menu at Gia's word choice.

"Yes significant others. I can't say husbands because I'm not married and I can't say boyfriends because you are. So significant others is better. Anyway did I did I tell you my theory on the Penthouse relationships?" Gia asked as she flipped through her menu and made air quotes while saying 'Penthouse relationships'.

"Are you talking about the magazine?"

"No you idiot," Gia laughed loud enough for the person next to them to hear. "I'm talking about you, me, Emily, Lucky, Jason and Sonny."

"Oh, yeah, well that makes more sense."

"God! Okay anyway Lucky and I are like the not-quite-sure-what-the-hell-we-are-relationship. Meaning that we'll probably be married in like four years and then one of us will confess to cheating and the other will break up with them only to get remarried forever two years later."

"You cheat on Lucky," Brenda smiled at Gia's exasperation from her purposely-stupid questions.

"No I haven't, at least not lately, but don't worry he did it too. Anyway, you and Jason are the we-act-like-we've-been-married-for-years-and-completely-respect-each-other-relationship. You know you've got the ready made family with the kid, you've both got your own careers, and you still have a healthy sex life. Which is great, I hope Lucky and I are like you two when we finally get married for good."

"Yeah well I'm not sure about the respect thing, but go on."

"Wow, he totally respects you. You're just mad cause you don't get to know everything. I mean…"

"Well aren't you?" Brenda interrupted laying her menu down and brushing her long bangs out of her eye. "Doesn't it ever bother you the Lucky has secrets."

"Truthfully? Nope. I've got them too. Do you really think I told him about that shoot last week with the half naked guy? Nope!" Gia waved her hand in the air as she saw Brenda open her mouth for a rebuttal. "I know, I know it's not the same. But it's business and truthfully if there is something he thinks I need to know he'll tell me, but I'm not married to Lucky. Really Bren, do you think that Jason likes keeping things from you? He's the most honest guy either of us know and if there is something you want to know this badly then you'll probably find out soon enough."

"Yeah, okay. So what about Sonny and Emily's relationship? How would you characterize that one?"

"Oh, that's the best. That's the I-can't-decide-whether-to-throw-you-down-and-have-sex-with-you-or-smack-you-but-we-still-have-this-amazingly-deep-understanding-of-each-other-relationship. That's the one that either kills you or gives you this life long partner, best friend, and accomplice."

"Wouldn't you rather have that one then, you say it's the best," Brenda inquires realizing that she's been there and it nearly killed her. She'd take her relationship with Jason any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

"Nope, too intense. I wasn't built for that sort of thing. The only people that can truly handle something like that have had some sort of crazy trauma in their lives. I don't want to have to work that hard for anything that could end in divorce. Although I think it will really work for them once they get their heads out of their asses and realize how much the have in common."

"I agree. The only problem is that neither of them is really good at getting their heads out of their asses."

"Well speaking of asses, here come our men!" Brenda laughs as she turns around to where Gia is pointing and notices the two men coming from around the corner where they had obviously been talking.

"Well hello ladies," Lucky said as he walked over to the table and bent down to give Gia a kiss on the cheek. "How long have you two been here?"

"Oh only long enough for me to tell Brenda my theory on the penthouse relationships," Gia said smiling as Lucky shook his head in understanding.

"What you mean like the magazine?" Brenda looked at Jason carefully and the laughed out loud at the confusion on his face.

"No she means…" She stopped half way through remembering Gia's explanation of Sonny and Emily's relationship. "Never mind."

"Whatever, look we need to talk…"

"Geez, Jase you look like somebody died chill out," Gia said as she lifted her drink to her mouth. Before she could take the sip she had been planning on she glanced toward Lucky to wait for the smile she expected to cross his face. He loved it when she interrupted Jason, because he was so easily annoyed by it. But when she caught the look on his face she immediately straightened. "Oh, God nobody actually died right?"

"No, but be careful with saying that stuff considering the business we are in," Lucky tried to smile back at her to ease the tension at the table, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to force it to reach his eye so he just took her hand in his carefully massage it with the pads of his fingers.

"What's wrong," Brenda demanded looked around the table waiting for either Jason or Lucky to start and when neither did she asked again with a little more force hoping that it would elicit the response she had been waiting for. And when Jason finally turned to her she had one horrible second when she realized that she wasn't sure she wanted to him to tell her the truth about certain things.

"We need to tell you the truth, about Emily and about what's really going on right now."

* * *

"I lied."

"Yeah, well, I may not be educated, but I kinda already understood that. So what did you lie about? And why?"

Emily was a little taken back that he even bothered to ask why she had lied. She didn't think it would matter if God himself had parted the clouds, come down from heaven and told her to lie. Sonny Corinthos didn't accept being lied to, ever. "Well, mostly, I lied about… Well, you see… Yeah, ummm, kinda everything."

"Everything?" Sonny stopped pacing around the room and sat down on the arm of his couch. He wanted to stay on the docks and have this conversation. Somewhere public where he couldn't yell or scream too loud. Where he couldn't do too much damage, but Emily has insisted upon coming back to the penthouse, something about not wanting the whole town to know what they were up to. What **they** were up to. Yeah, right, more like what she was up to, her and her boss/partner/whatever-the-hell-Thomas Marks was.

"Not really everything, just…"

"Don't," Sonny interrupted nearly yelling and now very sure the he wasn't going to keep his cool very well during this conversation. "Just say it!"

"The girls," Emily said trying to get this out as quickly as possible. It had been hard enough telling Jason, but for some reason her stomach was churning a little more now, her throat was a little drier, and her heart ached a little more and she had no time to think about why all those things were. "There were never any dead girls at all, underage or otherwise, well not like we said anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if there were. Nikolai he is a mobster, Russian. But Sonny he's not like you. He's not like anyone I've ever known gangster or not, criminal or not. He's cold blooded, I mean women, children, and puppies, he doesn't care who he has to kill to get what he wants. That's why I was pressuring you so much to tell Gia and Brenda the truth, I wanted them to know that they needed to be on guard."

"So instead of telling me the truth so that I would know to put extra men on them and make sure they were safe, you thought it would be better to start a fight with me…"

"I didn't start that damn fight, Sonny you did," Emily said interrupting.

"You really want to argue about this now. I mean you really want to get into a fight with me about who started a fight. You're kidding me right? Finish your damn story Emily, tell me what you have to do with this."

"I knew him, Nikolai. I mean I guess I knew him, when I was younger and I'm sure he knows who I am. I think he even killed the man who I thought was my father, not that I was too upset about that. That's why the FBI wanted me," Emily replied with a calm that was almost chilling to him. Her lips curved into a sardonic grin and her eyes grew distant as she told the rest. "He was infatuated with my mother and anyone or anything connected to her, but that started even before I was born, when she was still with my biological father maybe even before that."

"Still with?" Sonny asked. He had heard that her father died when she was younger, but this made it sound as though he left.

"Yeah, still with. When she got pregnant with me my mother decided that she wanted out, actually my uncle decided she wanted out. He didn't want my father's life being complicated by my mother, a woman my father dared to actually loved, there was no way he was gonna allow a child to be born," Emily leaned back onto the couch and started conjuring images of her mother; long hair flowing carelessly in the wind while she drove with the top down in the middle of the night.

_"Hey, sweetheart, are you okay?"_

_"Yes Mama," Emily said smiling as she looked into her mother's soft brown eyes and held them for a minute until the calmness settled over her and she felt instantly safe and protected._

_"No, not quite. You're scared. I know you are. I wish I could explain this. Explain why I pulled you out of bed at this time of night. I wish I could tell you all the things you need to know to grow up and become a great woman, but most of all I wish I could stop the pain the I know will come to you in the future" Paige Bowen said as tears streamed down her face. She pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned to look at her beautiful daughter. She wrapped her fingers around the little girls brown hair, planted sweet kisses on her eyes, and memorized every single detail as though it would be her last chance to do so. God, it was like looking at herself as a child, every feature was the same, but the emotions behind the eyes were different, those belonged to her father through-and-through. Her father._

_"Mama is something wrong? Where is daddy?"_

_"He's not your daddy," Paige's heart lurched as she saw the look of confusion pass across her little girls face. Oh, how she wanted to be able to explain it all, but she knew that it couldn't happen now, later when Emily was older and more capable of understanding she would sit her down and tell her of the love she felt for her father, and of the family that was out there waiting for the return of their little princess. She would bring her back and introduce her to her grandfather, grandmother and God help them all her uncle. Maybe by then he would realize that neither Paige nor Emily would interfere with his business and that they could handle all his world had to offer. Until then she wanted her child to recognize one thing._

_"I know you don't understand this and probably won't remember, but blood tells and yours is not the same as Daniel Bowen's, it never will be. He's nothing but a little boy whose whole life revolves around pleasing a horrible man." That I've made a deal with, Paige thought. "Just remember baby, blood tells and yours is strong, stronger than anything in the world."_

_"I'm scared mommy, I don't know why we are leaving, where are we going?"_

_"Away. Anywhere, but here. Emily, Daniel is dead, somebody killed him and they might try to come after us. I made a bad mistake. I let somebody help me that I shouldn't have and now we have to leave. Do you understand?"_

_"No, but I trust you," Emily replied as she wondered, in her six year old mind, if she was supposed to be happy or sad that the man who made her mommy cry and hurt, a lot, was dead._

_"Good," Paige said as she pulled back out onto the open road and realized for the first time the she and her daughter had held the conversation in a total of three languages. Russian, Spanish and English, she'd have to teach Emily to only speak in English if people were going to believe she was from Arizona, she knew they'd believe she was a widow, because that was what she felt like now. That was her last thought as she pulled into the international airport._

"Out of what? Emily, out of what?"

"Huh," Emily asked as she slowly pulled herself out of her reverie, this was the first time she'd ever remembered having the conversation with her mother. And it was the first piece of solid proof she'd gained on her own that one day she might know where she belonged.

"What was your mother or uncle wanting you out of?"

"Oh, the business. He—I guess they is a better term were mobsters. I think. At least that's what I've been told by the FBI."

"Do you know who he is?"

"No, Tommy tried to find out, but they sealed the file. The only way I get to read it is if I can bring Nikolai in and help them to get information on anyone he has ever worked with."

Sonny thought about that for a second as he tried to pull together all of the pieces of this situation. Emily was the daughter of a mobster, maybe someone he knew, but why would an uncle want her gone? Women didn't tend to interfere in business especially if they knew before the got married or fell in love. And why would the FBI use Emily to get to Nikolai for all of this, but most importantly why would she go along with it.

"I thought I had no other choice at the time," Emily said reading his thoughts. There were times when she couldn't figure out why or how she'd gotten herself into this situation. "I was telling the truth about the agent named Ted, he really did die, but I was told that if I didn't help I would be prosecuted and convicted of killing him. I was too young to know better and I didn't want to go to prison or leave the people I loved for twenty years or more, so I agreed."

"Jason would have helped; hell I would have helped. I felt responsible anyway, if it hadn't been for my allowing Juan to stay in Port Charles you would have never been in that situation."

"That doesn't matter another one would have come along, Nikolai found out where I was. He had been searching for me for years, the FBI realized that he was paying a lot of attention to me via Sorel and wondered why. So when I was drugged that night they just intercepted him and got to me first, if it had taken them even ten minutes long I would have had some very significant memory loss."

"What does Nikolai want with you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I just don't know. Maybe he thinks I know something, maybe he wants a replacement for my mother, and maybe he wants to stick it to my father. I just don't know enough about all of this to be able to figure it out. That's why I've stayed with this for so long, that's why I'm so desperate now."

"So what your telling me is that I'm supposed to trust the FBI who tricked a young girl into think she could go to prison so that they would have someone to do their dirty work for them," Sonny asked his temper rising again.

"No you're supposed to trust me."

"You lied too, you reasons may have been better, but you still made the choice to keep the truth from me. And to put not only Jason, Lucky and I in a bad situation that could get us arrested, but also you decided to put Brenda and Gia in danger."

"Dammit Sonny," Emily yelled as she rose from the couch. "I tried to warn you that Bren and Gia could be in danger and Tommy along with Alexis will make very sure you ass is covered."

"And what about your ass? Who's watching that?"

"Well, I thought that was supposed to be your job."

"Don't be a smart ass right now Emily, I'm serious. What were you gonna do when this was all over, when Nikolai realized that you took down his organization and others realized you were working for the FBI to help yourself. I mean if he really had been hurting little girls that would have been different, but people were bound to find out that wasn't the case and as dangerous as he is, he's also powerful. What were you really going to do?"

"I wasn't going to turn him in," Emily said looking down at her hand as she played with them in her lap. Jason hadn't thought to ask this question, thank God, he wasn't that practical. But she knew Sonny would ask and she knew that her head was telling her to lie, while her heart was literally begging for the truth. And in that moment Emily Bowen-Quartermaine or whoever the hell she was, made a decision that she would never be able to take back. "I was going to kill him."

"You were what!"

"I was going to kill him. For bringing Daniel Bowen into my life and my mothers life, for taking advantage of her when she was trying to protect her daughter, and for trying to then turn around and take what little bit of a life I had made for myself from me. I wanted him dead."

"You wanted him dead," Sonny asked sarcastically and the then thought back to some of the things she had said already and the conversation he had with Luke and the one he was having with Emily.

"_She doesn't need your physical protection, but emotionally that girl is very scared running from something huge. She doesn't talk about her father or even her childhood very often. That sore in her heart, her soul, it's been there a while" _

"_I think he even killed the man who I thought was my father, not that I was too upset about that." _

"_For bringing Daniel Bowen into my life and my mother's life."_

"What did he do to you?"

"Who?" Emily pretended to play stupid, but she knew he had caught on and now he would want the truth about one thing they both knew all too well. Daniel Bowen wasn't her father, but he didn't have to be to scar her for life.

"You know who, what did that bastard do to you?" Sonny had to move to the other side of the room for this part of the explanation, because he knew what people who thought they had claim to you were capable of.

"Nikolai, he—he didn't know when he assigned Daniel to stay with us and to pretend to marry my mother so she couldn't be found. He didn't know how much Daniel apparently hated the idea, how annoyed he was that he wasn't being moved up, or how cruel of a person he could truly be. And when my mother finally broke down and called Nikolai to tell him what was going on he didn't believe her, but when he had to come to the states for a business deal he found out the truth and had Daniel killed. Not because of what he had done to my mother," and to me she amended silently, "but because he had touched something that wasn't his. And that's when my mother took her chance to get away from it all, including Nikolai."

"I don't want a fucking history lesson Emily, we can talk about the how's and why's later. I want to know what he did to you."

"Me? Not nearly enough. My mother got the brunt of his anger and when he did take it out on me it was when she wasn't home. There were times when Nikolai needed to see her, to give her information or take his payment for helping her escape my uncle," she said disgusted. "Some days I just wish I could find him, my uncle, just to make sure he's dead and if he isn't to wish a horrible death upon him. He's my blood, unlike Nikolai, so I can't kill him, but I can wish for someone else to. Anyway that's not what you asked either. What did Daniel Bowen do to my mother and me? Me, he just beat the shit out of when my mother wasn't there to play punching bag. Her, he tortured. I don't know everything, but I would hear her crying through my walls and pray that he would just leave her alone. Or at least take it out on me."

"I'm sorry," Sonny said brokenly as he watched the tears silently stream down her stoic face. Never in his life had he wanted to comfort someone and hold them as much as he did right now, which was ironic, because he had also never wanted to run from someone as fast as he now wanted to run from Emily.

"Not your fault. We lived with him for three years, I think, from the time I was three until I turned six and he didn't think to start in on me until I was five. Actually I didn't even know it was going on until a week after my fifth birthday when he backhanded her in front of me."

"I'm still…"

"Don't," she interrupted. "Don't say you're sorry, you know that doesn't do any good. Just say you'll think about continuing on with this. You can help me now and make sure I don't get you or anyone else killed. Just please don't make this all for nothing."

"I'll think about it," he said turning away from her and making his way toward the stairs so that she wouldn't see the hurt in his eyes. They were gonna finish this conversation and now more than ever he wanted to know all that he could about her, but now was the time. Not when both of their wounds had be exposed for the other to see. "In the mean time you need to get ready. We've got to go to Luke and Skye's engagement party and convince your family we're in love."

"I ummm…don't have anything to wear," Emily said sheepishly. "My good clothes haven't arrived yet."

"I know. I had you bought a dress today and some jewelry to go with it. And your "good" clothes did arrive, but they won't work if you going to be playing the part of my lover. I've had them replaced."

"You had the what? God you are such a—"

"Careful Emily," Sonny turned to looked at her with a dangerous glint in his eye. "I haven't decided if I'm going to help you. And while we're at it I also haven't forgotten your plan to try and kill Nikolai."

Emily watched him go upstairs without as much as a hitch in his step. If she didn't know better she'd think he'd just had the best day ever, but she did know better. So why was she smiling as she watched him go? And why did she want to follow him and spend the night in his bed so badly? "Shit"


	7. Chapter Seven

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

Feedback: Always welcome…craved in fact.

* * *

"Well hello sexy," Brenda smiled as she walked down the stairs looking at Jason. "God, your gorgeous, and in Armani no less. I must have been a very good girl this year."

"Uh, huh." Jason smiled as Brenda walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was wearing a red dress that had some sort of V cut going down the middle. He didn't know the technical term for it, but he was sure that it wouldn't matter once the night was over and he was slipping it off of her beautiful body. As she moved closer to him his arms slid down to her waist, back up to wear the dress was clasped behind her neck, and then started to pull the two sides apart…

"Wow, aunt Brenda you look pretty," Michael said as he bounced in from the kitchen.

"Thank you very much," Brenda smiled as she carefully removed herself from Jason's arms and laughed at the grunt he let out. "And what about your daddy?"

Michael looked over at Jason and sort of shrugged his shoulders as he studied his father's clothes. He wasn't as good at this part, his uncle Lucky never taught him what he was supposed to say about guys. "He's okay, I guess. Are you two gonna tuck me in before you leave?"

"Oh, well, I don't know. What do you think Jase?"

"Sure," Jason replied, shrugging his shoulders just as Michael had done, he'd never actually learned to subtle art of teasing.

"You two are horrible," Brenda smiled as she started upstairs behind Michael. "Yeah, we'll tuck you in sweetheart."

"You can't call me that anymore aunt Bren."

"Really," Brenda asked as the breath started to escape from her lungs. That was the only bit of affection she allowed herself with Michael. One reason for this was that she wasn't sure how Carly would have reacted, but another was that she wasn't sure how Michael would if she tried to give him more.

"Yep. Danny, the boy who sites next to me in class, the one with the dog the Emmy's, says only little boys get called that. Now that I'm nine, I'm not little anymore."

"Well, I call your daddy sweetheart and he's all grown up."

"Really," Michael look up to his father and asked hopefully, he like it when she called him sweetheart.

"Yeah. Look Michael if you don't like it anymore that's fine, but don't let someone else decide for you."

"Okay," he said and then jumped up onto his bed and looked around thoughtfully for a second, trying to decide if he wanted to ask the other question that had been in his head and then finally decided that he wanted to know. "Are aunt Emily and uncle Sonny gonna get married?"

"N…"

"Why would you ask that," Brenda asked as she interrupted Jason's response.

"Well after you started living here you and daddy got married. So if aunt Emmy and uncle Sonny live together shouldn't they be married?"

"That's a little different Michael. Your daddy and I knew each other for a long time before we got married."

"Sonny and Emmy don't know each other," he asked now more confused that he already had been.

"Uh…okay, bad example. What I meant is that we knew a lot about each other before you were even born."

"Sonny and Emmy didn't know each other before I was born?"

"Actually they did."

"I don't get it. Are aunt Emily and uncle Sonny getting married or not?"

"No," Jason finally responded at the same time Brenda said, "Maybe."

Michael look between the two of them before finally deciding that he wasn't gonna get an answer from either of them. He'd have to ask Emily or Sonny, but that could wait for tomorrow. "Forget it! I'm going to sleep."

"Night sweetheart."

"Night Michael."

"Night daddy, night…" Michael looked up for a second and realized he wanted to say _Mommy_, but he wasn't sure if he was allowed so he just finish like he usually did. "Aunt Brenda."

"Why did you say that," Jason asked as the left Michael's room and started down stairs.

"Say what," Brenda asked confused. She had noticed the hesitation in Michael's voice and wondered if Jason had also.

"That Sonny and Emily might get married."

"Wha—Oh, that. Well, you never know."

Jason couldn't do anything, but stare at her as she finished her descent down the stairs.

"I love Sonny," Gia laughed as she moved her hands down the side of her body to feel the fabric of her dress and Lucky feigned hurt.

"Really," he replied as reached over and pressed the stop button on the elevator that went up to the penthouse.

"Well not as much as I love you."

"Uh, huh," Lucky smiled. "One more dress and Em will have to fight you for Sonny."

"I'd kick her ass," Gia said as she stepped a little closer to Lucky.

"Yeah, right."

"You don't think I could take her?"

"No," Lucky laughed as he pulled her closer to him and nipped her bottom lip with his teeth. "I don't."

"Yea, me either," she smiled reaching around his neck and holding on. "I mean you guys used to talk about how sweet and naïve she was supposed to be, but I don't see that."

"People change." He settled his head onto her shoulder and smelled her sweet perfume.

"For the better," she asked as she tipped her head down to look into his eyes.

"Are you getting at something princess?"

"I was just wondering how you feel about all of this. Isn't she supposed to be your oldest friend?"

"What's left of them anyway," Lucky responded as he broke away from her and pressed the button the get the elevator moving again. He knew where she was going with this conversation and didn't want to deal with it right now.

"Have you spoken to either Liz or Nikolas since the divorce?"

"Yeah," he answered as he sighed. He really didn't want to have this conversation now. Not before his father's engagement party. "I talked to Nik, but I still haven't gotten the whole story of what happened."

"Has anyone heard from her? Other than Audrey."

"No, I talked to Audrey the other day though. I guess Liz has a new guy she's with now. I just don't get what happened."

"She wasn't the center of his world," Gia whispered under her breathe. In the time she had known Elizabeth Webber they had never gotten along, just pretended for Nikolas and Lucky's sake.

"What?"

"Nothing," Gia answered and then noticed Lucky's eyebrows rise and his lips pursed, he wasn't gonna give this up. "It's just that she wasn't the center of his life. He had his families business to work on, his relationship with Stefan to continue building back up and other things. I just think Liz doesn't do well when she isn't the center of the world, is all."

"Whatever." He wasn't annoyed at the fact that Gia had said those things, but more so at the fact that she might be right. Before Nikolas finally gave her the ultimatum that she either had to marry him or walk away, she had been bouncing between needing Nikolas, him and Jason, all as friends of course. That was right after Emily had gone missing and as Lucky started getting closer to Gia he noticed more and more that the thing that usually kept Jason in town and not searching for Emily was Liz. Not that he blamed her, at that point in time Jason had been way too caught up in finding Emily, even after everyone else had dealt with the fact that she wasn't coming back Jason searched. Staying in town to help Liz usually got his mind of the fact that searching for Emily was going nowhere, but it was still hard to see her so indecisive about what she wanted until she was given no other choice. That was probably why the marriage hadn't lasted.

"Lucky, you don't have to take their problems on as your own. Liz will call you one day and you can make nice with her and be her friend without betraying your brother. It is allowed."

"I know that Gia, the problem is I'm not sure that I want to."

Gia looked down at her fingernails as they stepped off the elevator. She truly felt bad that Lucky was stuck in the place between his brother and someone he cared very much for, but she had no problem taking Nikolas' side in the situation. She'd always seen Elizabeth as selfish and the divorce from Nikolas, and events surrounding it, as she had heard them, only made her surer of that fact. But this wasn't the time to talk about it.

"So how do you think Emily and Sonny are doing?" Lucky was relieved when Gia finally changed the subject, she knew he didn't want to have to decide now whether he was going to end up losing a good friend or a brother. And he knew that she would take Nikolas' side over Elizabeth's any day of the week.

"Are you kidding, I'll bet any amount of money that they've either killed each other or…"

"Who killed each other," Brenda asked as they walked into the penthouse and found her and Jason sitting comfortably together on Sonny's couch. He silently thanked whatever god was out there that she had stopped him before he finished the sentence. Dealing with an overprotective Jason was also not on his list of things to do tonight.

"Uh, the Quartermaines," Gia piped up as she stepped in front of Lucky to deflect Jason's anger. She knew that he'd have no problem killing Lucky in defense of his little sister, but he had a soft spot for women. Well, some women anyway, and she was just lucky enough to be one of them. But the longer she stood in front of Lucky the more worried she got that he might abandon his whole not hitting girls stance in life, in order to get to Lucky. It was then her turn to thank any god who was listening as Emily came down the stairs closely followed by Sonny. And, oddly enough, not only were they both alive, but neither of them looked like they'd gotten any. Jason was sure to be happy about that.

"Well if it isn't the two most beautiful women in Port Charles," Sonny smiled, letting his dimples show as he walked over to Brenda and lifted her knuckles to kiss them, and the continued onto Gia, who he kissed on the cheek.

"Hey, hands off my woman," Lucky said as he pulled Gia towards him playfully.

Jason watched the exchange with mild disinterest and then turned to look at Emily and noticed the frown on her face. It was then that he realized that Sonny's comment was about the two most beautiful women in Port Charles and not three. Damn him. He untangled himself from Brenda's arms and walked over to Emily.

"You look amazing too you know?"

"Yeah," Emily said, half-smiling at him. "I like it."

"Em…"

"I'm fine, you know. He's—he has good reason to be angry with me and he's still going along with all this. We'll be fine tonight. Just don't worry okay. Act natural."

"I don't want you hurting just so that his works out Emily, it's not worth it," he whispered angrily as he looked over at Sonny laughing with Lucky, Gia and Brenda. "He doesn't have any right to hurt you."

"I lied, Jase. He isn't my brother or my best friend and he had no reason to forgive me for it. I've dealt with people a lot more angry than Sonny is right now, and he's going along with this. Let's just leave it at that and try to get through tonight. Convincing people who don't really know me, like Sorel and Nikolai, that I'm in love with Sonny, is going to be easy. The real test will be convincing family."

She took his arm and led him, smiling, toward Brenda. After that was settled she walked over to Sonny, slipped her hand and through his arm and said, "Let's get this party started."

* * *

"No way am I allowing that—that hooligan into my home," Edward yelled as he came stomping into the living room.

"Which one Grandfather, Sonny or Luke?" Ned sat down on the couch and started nursing the bourbon he'd poured himself only seconds before. It was going to be a long night.

"Both," Alan followed behind Edward and sat down next to Ned on the plush couch. "I don't want either of them near my daughters."

"Their both adults, I don't see how either of you can stop either of them," Ned smiled at the frowns, or was that pouts, that appeared on Edward and Alan's faces.

"Watch me!" Edward stopped pacing, sat down on the chair and pulled on his tie.

"Watch you what," Monica asked as she followed both Alan and Edward into the living room and stood by the fireplace. "Oh, never mind. How are we going to get Sonny away from my daughter?"

"What about Skye," Alan asked as he stood up and walked over to Monica.

"What about her, she isn't a part of this family."

"Neither of the little-interloper-brats are," Tracy said from the doorway.

"Shut up, Tracy," Alan, Monica and Edward all said in unison and Ned looked back at her, the sentiment on his face mirroring their words.

"Really, I don't know why you all insist upon treating those two as members of this family. Why are we even celebrating Skye's unholy union in my families house?"

"It's my house," Monica yelled back at her.

"I gave it to you," Alan quipped.

"Which," Skye said as she came walking, almost waddling as her pregnant belly petruded, "is why we're celebrating my, what did you call it Tracy, unholy union, at this house. And also why all of you will, for one night, show some respect not only to my fiancé, but also to Emily and Sonny."

"I completely agree," Lila smiled as the whole family whipped around and gave her their full attention.

"Hello grandmother," Skye laughed as she half-leaned, half-fell over to give her grandmother a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello darling. Are you ready for your upcoming engagement and wedding to that adorable Spencer boy?"

"Boy," Edward guffawed, "hardly."

"Oh, hush Edward," Lila said as she came the rest of the way into the room and looked pointedly at everyone for a second. "Let the girl be happy, can't you see she's glowing? And as for Emily, you will all leave her alone and give her room to breath, she's been through quite a lot and I won't have her back home just to see you all push her away again. Understood?"

"Well said grandmother," Ned replied. "I agree."

"Suck up," Alan said as he sneered.

"I hate to intrude, but the guests are arriving," Reggie interrupted before the in-fighting could go any further than it already had, "and you all may want to begin moving out to the gardens."


	8. Chapter Eight

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Stefan asked as he walked around the side of the desk, he had been sitting at, to stand in front of Nikolas.

"Yes, Uncle. I'm sorry. Lucky and I know full well that you and Luke hate each other, but that has nothing to do with us. Besides that fact, I've heard that Emily is in town and I'd like to see her."

"You have, I assume, also heard that she's involved with Corinthos?"

"I have, yes." Nikolas almost rolled his eyes at his uncle, but caught himself before following through with the action. That was all he needed, to have his uncle think of him as a child who rolled their eyes when they didn't get their way.

"And you have no feelings on this matter?" Stefan responded as he ignored Nikolas' juvenile half-gesture.

"Of course I do," Nikolas sighed as he leaned back on the desk. "My brother is working for a criminal and my best friend is dating that same man, but they are both adults."

"Please don't allow them to pull you into whatever it is that is going on."

"Why do you assume something is going on?"

"With Lucky Spencer and Ms. Quartermaine there is always something going on."

Nikolas laughed at his uncle's impatient tone. If Emily were there she probably would have given him a glowing smile and made some ridiculous comment about being an angel. Yeah, right. "Okay Uncle, I'll give you that one, but I do need to get going. Are you sure you don't want to come, I'm sure Em would love to see you."

"Yes, I'm sure she would," Stefan responded exasperated. He liked the Quartermaine girl, she was intelligent and was much more courteous than the rest of her family, but she did have tendency to bring trouble wherever she went. "Go, have a good evening with you friends and send your aunt Alexis my love."

"And Luke," Nikolas asked smiling.

"What about him?"

"Well it is his engagement party."

"Yes," Stefan thought for a second and then replied, "send Skye my condolences."

"Fine," Nikolas laughed he waked out of the room, and then, as an after thought said, "Goodbye uncle."

* * *

"Anybody not ready for this?" Lucky asked with an almost childish tone to his voice. It had been about five minutes since they arrived in the Quartermaine driveway and it took Brenda nearly forcing them to get them out of the limo so they could make their way toward the door. A feat, which in itself, was also daunting.

"Shut up and ring the bell," Emily reached down and smoothed out the wrinkles in her plum colored slip dress. The least she could do was look presentable.

"Fine, but I don't appreciate your tone young lady. As a matter of fact…"

"Hey, hold on," Tommy yelled as he came running up the drive with Alexis stumbling along behind him as her shoes twisted on the gravel. "I need to talk with you guys."

"Would you please stop running, I am wearing a dress," Alexis emphasized each word as she caught up to him quickly trying to catch her breath.

"Well, then don't run with me."

"Look," she started as she put her hand on his strong, _very strong and very broad_, shoulder and then pulled it away, "you're the one who decided that you needed to be my escort. I was fine with not coming to this thing at all."

"Excuse me," Emily cut in looking at Tommy. He had shaved his face, his hair had been cut and styled in a way the made him look almost respectable. Almost, he still held that dangerous…whatever that women seemed to like. "I hate to interrupt, but did you need something?"

"Yes, we need to talk…" Tommy looked to Brenda and Gia before finishing, "about business."

"I told them already, the truth, I mean. The whole truth."

"You—What the hell is wrong with…"

"Whoa!" Gia threw her hands up in a purely defensive gesture and interrupted Tommy's tirade before it got too far out of hand and she was stuck in the middle of some crazy mini-drama. "As fascinating as this all is, I think I'm gonna go ahead inside, Bren?"

Brenda stopped and looked at Jason for a second before making her decision. Leaving him in the middle of a fight wasn't something that she really wanted to do, but she also wasn't lying when she told him she only wanted the necessary details of his business. She definitely didn't need the keys to the closet where he kept the bodies. "Yeah, I'm gonna come with you."

"You don't have to," Jason said as he looked at her carefully, gauging whether or not she really wanted to be there.

"No, no it's fine," she smiled as she walked over to him and started to give him a kiss on the cheek and then whispered, "Just give me the details later," and louder, "come on Gia."

"Alexis?" Gia looked to the older woman questioningly, she didn't know how much she was allowed to talk about here or what Alexis knew about the whole situation.

"No, I think I may need to be here for this," Alexis responded as she looked at the group of people standing in front of her, there were definitely things she needed to know. Gia nodded to her and then went into the house with Brenda following not too far behind her. "What's going on here?" Alexis asked as she turned to look at the group in front of her after the other two women left.

"That's what I would like to know," Tommy responded, before Emily had a chance to. "Dammit, Em there was no reason to tell anyone anything else. I promised you before we started this that any agreement I worked out with Alexis would cover what they did and didn't know."

"And did you think for one second that I was, maybe, a little sick of lying and of never being quite sure of the role I was playing," Emily asked whispering harshly as she tried to control her temper and keep four years of heartache out of her voice all at once. Not an easy feat for a twenty-three-year-old woman.

"Fine," he conceded, not wanting her to be angry or hurt. "It doesn't matter anyway."

"What doesn't matter?" Alexis asked exasperated.

"I'll tell you later," Tommy looked at Alexis and wanted to smile at her frustration. She was actually very cute when her nostrils flared just so, and when she…_Not the time for this_, he thought and then continued on. "Sorel has made contact and he wants to sit down and talk."

"Wait a second," Sonny said from behind Emily. She turned to look at him and realized that some of the missing pieces were finally falling into place in his head. "How did you plan on pulling this part off? If the idea was to bring us in by saying that Nikolai and Sorel were dealing in underage girls, how were you going to explain the fact that they weren't?"

"Misdirection," Tommy earned a smack in the arm from Emily after this particular comment flew out of his mouth. That was definitely a crude way of saying that he hoped Emily would be able to keep Sonny "preoccupied." Asshole.

"Shut up Tommy," her voice sounded as if she were scolding a two-year-old child, after the smile fell from his face she turned to look at Sonny and then took in a deep breath, "We were going to tell you that they weren't falling for your sudden interest in the skin trade and the planed need to be changed; so you'd have to deal with them on the drug front instead. Tommy would have pulled out as the so-called silent partner, which wouldn't matter because no one but us has seen him anyway; and then we'd just use him as a lawyer for the person who is going to be your true partner in this. Confused yet?"

"Wait a second," Lucky looked to Tommy and ignored the obvious question deciding instead to, well, be himself. "You're a lawyer?"

"Amazing cover right," Tommy said as he smiled at Lucky, who was amazed, "I started out as a defense attorney, but then I decided I wanted to move to the other side of the law. Prosecution didn't hold my attention so I switched to a more hands-on approach."

"Why?" Jason asked, more interested in why Tommy was here; he knew Emily's reasons.

Emily looked at Tommy for a second and saw the swift pain across his face before he caught himself and switched back to his normal demeanor, "I just wanted a change of pace."

"Forget that," Sonny interrupted, he noticed the look on the other man's face also, and didn't want to push the subject. "Who is this new person we have to work with?"

"There isn't a new person," Emily began cautiously; this was not going to be fun. "It's all still a part of the cover. We tell my family, the "civilians" so-to-speak that you just happened to run into me in a bar in South America. But when people whose connections are a little bit seedier start to look they'll find a carefully constructed alias I've spent the last few years building up. Corey Wilson, a woman who just happens to be an assassin and dabbles in the drug trade every once in a while."

"Whoa, wait a second, now I'm completely confused," Lucky stared at Emily as though she had bloomed a second head. "Corey Wilson is you right?"

"Right," Emily replied and then looked around at everyone who, suddenly, seemed to be surrounding her. "Look, could we just finish this later? We need to get to the party."

"No," Sonny answered, heatedly breaking the silence. "This needs to be finished now! Do you think you can handle, just once telling us all the whole truth?"

Emily looked to Jason for help with fighting Sonny's temper, but all she got was the casually disinterested face he used when he wanted the answer to something and knew the person didn't want to give it. _Great, no help there_, she thought and decided just to get on with it, "Fine. Everything essentially plays out the same way. Everyone believes that I lost my memory the night of the rave. You all know the truth about that, I didn't lose my memory and Sorel and Nikolai were the ones to set that up. As far as my family will knows the drugs were given to me by accident when I drank the bottle of water, and I had some sort of bad reaction to them and woke up with no memory. They'll think that I was confused and left town because I woke up next to a dead guy, I'm gonna be kinda vague on how and why, and for our purposes they should buy that, for now. After I left town I ended up in South America, again with the vagueness, and after spending a few years there I ran into Sonny. We all got that?"

Emily looked around as everyone nodded or gestured for her to move on and so she did, "Now, as I said people with somewhat seedier connections will get a different story, or what's essentially a more detailed version of that one. They'll get the version where I wake up next to a dead guy, notice the drug paraphernalia lying around, and a gun next to the bed stand. In this version of the story I pick up the gun and realize I know how to use it. And for all of the students out there wondering, I do and did know how to use one, my mother made very sure of that. Anyway, after that I started using the alias Corey Wilson, Corey because it's a nice asexual name—and also my aunts name, but we'll pretend I didn't realize that at the time—and Wilson, because that was the name of the dead cop. There was a little money lying around from him and me and with that I made my way to South America, after I got there I supposedly took a few jobs running drugs and as time progressed I got more involved. And four years later, I finally make my way up to dealing with the almighty and powerful Sonny Corinthos, who has decided to forgo his moral objections to drugs and start dealing in them. We met and voila! Here we are."

"That is a very thought out cover," Alexis said breaking the silence.

"Thanks," Tommy replied quickly and almost made her want to take back the compliment, or what in his mind passed as one, "I thought most of it up."

"How long have you been planning this?" Sonny asked as he stared unforgivingly into Emily's brown eyes and wondered just how much there was to her. He'd never really believed she was a good liar, but, it turns out all this time, she was a master at it.

"I've been actively setting up the alias for three years, before that it was mostly training on how to deal with all of this."

"Three," Jason asked, "for three years you've known you were coming back?'

"I—no, Jason it wasn't like that. We weren't sure where or how Nikolai would need to be gotten to. Look, Jase, really I'm…"

"What the hell is going on out here," Edward asked as he whipped open the door to the Quartermaine mansion and looked at the group of people standing on his porch.

"Sorry," Gia said as she jumped up from behind him looking startlingly like a child trying to see over a counter, making Emily and everyone else wonder just how much height arrogance added to a person. Gia was nearly 5'11" barefoot, and Edward…wasn't. "I tried to stop him, but he's pretty quick for…"

"For what?" He interrupted.

"For and old guy," Emily smiled and nearly threw herself into her grandfather's arms as everyone else looked uncomfortably on the private moment. "I missed you so much grandfather and I didn't even know it."

"Well," Edward pulled her tighter, slightly flustered, "I've missed you too sweetheart. Tell me how you've been."

_Game time,_ Emily thought. "Since I found Sonny and got my memory back I've been amazing. He really has been a light in my life," she pulled back and looked into his eyes for a moment. "You do know what happened don't you?"

"Yes, well, Skye filled the family in on the gist of it all, but don't worry about the details right now. You must have been so confused waking up after being drugged, and in a strange place. If only you'd have made it to Mercy or GH…well, bygones," Edward smiled as she tried to pull away a little and he just held her tighter.

"Oh, Edward, let the poor girl breathe," Emily heard the voice from behind her grandfather and nearly broke into tears. God she had missed that soft sound with nice sensible advice flowing beautifully from it.

"Grandmother," she virtually squealed and dropped to her knees forgetting about the dress she was wearing.

"Hello, darling. We've all missed you so very much."

"You have no idea how amazing it feels to finally be home," Emily mumbled with her head buried in her grandmother's fragrant neck. Lavender, would forever remind her of a graceful woman who loved everyone in her family fiercely.

"Yes, well, I heard we have Mr. Corinthos to thank for that. Don't you agree Edward?"

"Whatever," came the reply as he walked over to Emily, pulled her from the floor, and dragged her along with him as he walked away.

"Eloquent," Alexis quipped as she reached for Tommy's hand and followed behind them.

"I don't even want to know what it took to get him to say that," Lucky laughed as he grabbed Gia, who, in turn, grabbed Jason.

"Come on your wife needs you. She's being harassed by the gruesome twosome," Jason followed behind her only because he liked it when she called Ned and AJ the gruesome twosome.

"Well Mr. Corinthos, I believe that leaves you as my escort. Why don't you tell my about you and my granddaughter as we go?"

"I thought you knew?" Sonny asked from behind her as the followed the rest of the crowd.

"Oh, I know that story that Skye told us and although Emily has become practiced enough at lying to fool the rest of the family, I'm not so easily convinced. But that's another conversation that I'm going to have with her, when she's ready. Right now, I just want you to tell me you'll fix the strain I saw on her face."

"I—I'll try." He said it almost without thinking, almost. Even before she'd mentioned it he knew he was going to have to try. As much as he hated being lied to Emily was truly dealing with a lot, probably more than most people knew, but he had a good enough understanding of it. And as angry with her as he was, he couldn't let her take it all on by herself.

"Well, that's the best I can expect then, now isn't it?"

Once everyone finally made it into the party they spent the next few hours congratulating Skye and Luke on their engagement and watching to make sure Emily wasn't leaving. She spoke with AJ who hadn't had a drink in over three years, which, for AJ was nearly a lifetime; Ned who had been speaking with Lois more, who, in turn, was finally allowing Brooke to come to Port Charles and stay for a little while. She let Alan and Monica both hold her for as long as they wanted too, and mostly enjoyed it. She ate dinner off of Sonny's plate and made him split his dessert with her to prove to the rest of the guest that she was truly in love. And then as the party was winding down she gathered with Sonny, Skye, Gia and Lucky and just talked.

"Is that who I think it is?" Emily looked past Skye's shoulder to the two newest guests who had arrived so unfashionably late.

"Who?" Skye turned around and scanned the room trying to match her eye line with Emily's.

"With Jax!"

Skye stopped dead in her tracks as she finally realized who—or what, Emily was seeing. "I can't believe he had the nerve to bring her here."

"Maybe she brought him," Lucky, who had been looking over Skye's shoulder, replied without thinking.

"What do you mean? _She_," Skye said emphasizing the last word and turning so quickly that he had to step back for fear of being knocked over, "wasn't invited."

"Sure she was," Gia buried her head in her hands as Lucky spoke to Skye like she was a child. "Dad invited her; she is your business partner." It was _almost_ comical how oblivious Lucky was to women's emotions.

"Oh, yeah, sure she is," Skye turned and walked away leaving the rest of the group wondering if Luke was going to be capable of making it to his wedding when it, or if it, finally happened.

"Come on," Gia grunted as she grabbed for Lucky's hand.

"What—woman—why do you keep dragging me places?"

"Fine," she said and stopped to look at him, "I'll just try and stop Skye from killing your father all on my own. How does that sound?"

"Bad," Lucky shook his head agreeably as he followed behind her. "Very bad."

Emily smiled light-heartedly at her two friends as they chased Skye through the crowd of people. _God, they were cute_, she thought and then her mood turned sour as she looked back at the door and noticed that the objects of the previous conversation were coming her way, correction, her and Sonny's way. Great. "Ugh, there's no way to get out of this, is there?"

"No," Sonny responded curtly, "You're the one who wanted this, now be quiet and pretend we're together."

"Oh, baby, I love it when you sweet-talk me," Emily quipped as she leaned into Sonny's arms, for show, of course.

"Well," Jax began as he approached. "Hello, Sonny. Emily," he reached out and lifted her hand to his lips before she had a chance to stop him.

"Hey _Candyboy_," Sonny said as he pulled her closer to his side. "Why don't you keep your hands off things that don't belong to you?"

"I'm sorry, I thought I was in the Quartermaine's house, exactly what here belongs to you?"

"I think," Emily said while she smoothly stepped between them, "he was referring to me."

"You? Sweetheart, what are you twelve," Faith looked Emily up and down in a way that made her feel altogether…gross.

"I'm old enough to know a skank when I smell one Mrs. Roscoe. How long has your husband been dead now?" Emily got a very swift twinge of satisfaction as an annoyed line formed on Faith's forehead.

"Now ladies," Jax was the one to interrupt the budding argument this time as he wrapped his arms around Faiths waist, mimicking Sonny's earlier gesture, "why don't you step into your neutral corners?"

"Whatever. I think I just saw Nikolas come in, I'm gonna go see him," Emily's eyes caught Jax's and noticed something dark and probably dangerous in them; she turned in Sonny's arms and looked up into his, which were much darker and definitely more dangerous. Just the ways she liked it. "Is that okay?"

"Sure sweetheart, I'll find you later."

"You sure?" Emily asked as she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Definitely," he smiled as he watched Emily leave, very sure that the extra sway in her hips was to prove to Jax just how in love with Sonny she was. Emily Quartermaine was definitely becoming a world-class liar.

"Great," Faith said pulling both of the men's attention from Emily's retreating form. "Now that the little girl is gone, let's talk."

"Come on Faith," Sonny responded happily as he pulled his eyes away from Emily. "Are you sure you want to talk in front of your life-size Ked doll here?"

Faith threw her head back and laughed stridently, "Guess what, he's anatomically correct too."

"What in the world is going on over there?" Alexis asked as Emily approached her and Nikolas.

"You do not want to know," she replied as she looked back over her shoulder to Sonny and noticed Faith's forbidding laugh. She was really going to have to study up on that woman. But first, "Hey handsome," she said as she smiled at Nikolas and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, "how's life?"

"Oh, I don't know beautiful, you tell me." He'd almost forgotten how easy it was to slip back into a routine with her; she always made him feel at ease. "God, I missed you so much."

"Yeah? Well once I remembered to, I missed you too," Emily looked out of the corner of her eye and saw the flinch on Alexis' face that she felt in her heart. Neither of them wanted to lie to him, not Nikolas who had been lied to, oh so many times in his life, but it was necessary and they'd both have to get over it. "So how long have you been here?"

"Actually, almost and hour, I played with LuLu for a while, and then every time I tried to speak with you a family member had gotten to you first."

"I know," she replied almost embarrassed. "They all still think I'm gonna leave them."

"Can you blame them?" Nikolas asked, as they finally pulled apart.

"No, I just need a break, is all."

"Actually," Alexis interrupted any response Nikolas might have had, "I think I see my date about to cause some trouble with Edward. I'll let you two catch up." The three of them stood uncomfortable for a beat longer before Alexis walked over to Tommy and Edward who were waving wildly at each other.

"Tactful, isn't she?"

"Amazingly so," Emily smiled as Nikolas laughed silently as his aunt.

"So," he started as he turned back to her, "Sonny Corinthos, huh?"

"Oh, man Nikolas, are you gonna lecture me too? Because I've gotten it already from Grandfather, Ned, AJ, mom and dad."

"Well, I'd rather not be thrown into a category with all of them. So, how about this, I'm here anytime you need me. Anytime."

"Good," Emily smiled and Nikolas noticed her shoulders finally relaxing and her fist unclenching. "Did Lucky get that invite too?"

She said it with such smoothness it almost caught him off guard, even after all this time she was still the peacemaker. He always loved that about her.

"Of course he got the invitation. He's my brother Emily, no matter what did or didn't happen with Liz, he's my brother and I love him. Anyway, Gia brokered peace talks about a half hour ago, so you missed it. Not that there needed to be any, anyway. It's still the same with us, no matter what else has changed, you put us together and it's still the same. It probably would be if Liz was here too, despite the past, we were each other's first real family, in so many ways. That will never change." He finished and wanted to pray that he was right, that if Liz walked through the door right in that moment it would all be okay, but he knew better. So many things had been messed up, when Emily when missing, when he and Liz finally got married. It was all wrong, they were both too young; and the thing that worried him the most now was that it would never be the same again, that because they'd made that one stupid choice to get married before either of them were really ready, that the four musketeers would be dead.

"I wanted to hate her," Emily almost laughed as Nikolas' head whipped up startled. "She was my first female friend and I loved her for that, but when I found out she'd married you after toying with Jason and Lucky I really wanted to hate her. I know this sounds bad, but as much as I love her, have always loved her and will always love her, you and Lucky were always more important to me. I would have sacrificed never meeting any of you if I had to chose between us being friends and you two being brothers. I just—I always wanted to say that, but it never felt right."

"Liz and I got divorced because we weren't happy, not because we hated each other or because one of us messed it up, no matter what else she needs to think. I know Lucky needs to blames someone, he's always needed to blame someone when things have gone wrong, but the truth is, no one needs to be blamed for this. No one."

"I wonder if she would say the same." Emily smiled as she looked passed Nikolas' shoulder at Gia and Lucky joking around with Brenda and Jason and after a few seconds of doing that and standing in companionable silence with Nikolas a thought occurred to her, "Do you think it will ever be the same, that we'll ever be like we were for the few years together?"

"No," he answered sadly, almost humbly as if he was saying his last prayer before he left a church. "We're not kids anymore, none of us. But I do think that when worse comes to worse and we need each other there won't be one second of doubt in our minds about who to call."

"Good—I meant not good, but…"

"I know what you mean," Nikolas smiled as he looked behind her and saw Sonny making his way through the crowd. "Your boyfriend's coming," he said reluctantly. "Well talk another time and maybe we'll both be a little more truthful."

"Promise?" Emily asked as she smiled up into his face, that even to this day she thought belonged on a child and not a grown man.

"Yeah, I promise. You?"

She smiled as she realized what he was asking, even after all these years of teaching herself to be a liar, some people could still see the truth shining behind her brown eyes. "Yeah, I promise," she said it and knew that he would take her up on the offer and that Tommy would be very angry because once they had that conversation one more person would know her secrets.

"Good," Nikolas wanted to laugh as he saw her warring silently with herself over whether to truly tell him the truth or not. "Call me later."

"He didn't have to leave," Sonny said as he walked up behind Emily and nuzzles her neck because he noticed other people in the room, mainly Jax and Faith, staring in their directions.

"He wanted too," Emily replied as she turned uncomfortably in his arms and stared up into his deep brown eyes for a second. "So is this for everyone's benefit of just Jax and Faith's?"

"He'll be at the meeting," Sonny replied strategically ignoring her question.

"What," she asked, shocked turning into worry, "he can't. He'll be sure to tell the family about my being Corey Wilson Sonny, I really didn't want them to know. When did he become involved in the business?"

"When Brenda married Jason," her answered frankly. "Don't worry your cover will still be fine. If the Quartermaines do find about your alias as Corey Wilson it won't matter. As far as they will know all of that will be behind you, from before you got your memory back. They'd never think your still in the business."

"Yeah, but Jax could tell them I'm still involved."

"And risk having people think of him like a gangster, like me and Jason, doubtful. If he says anything it will be just enough to let your family know you weren't an angel while they believed you were gone."

"Alright," Emily responded desperately wanting to believe what he said.

"Hey," Jason came from the side of them. "We need to get going soon; Bren and Gia are worn out."

"Alright," Emily untangled herself from Sonny's arms, where she had become too comfortable and began to walk away. "Just let me say bye to Skye and Luke."

"Everything okay?" Jason asked once she was out of earshot.

"Yeah," Sonny eyes, again, lingered on Emily as she walked away. This time the sway of her hips was back to normal, but no less intoxicating. "We might have a problem with Faith and Jax, but don't worry too much yet."

"You want me to put someone on them?"

"Yeah, just to be sure," Sonny looked over to Luke and Skye and saw Emily throw her head back and laugh with them.

"Okay."

"I'm gonna…" Sonny pointed to across the room where Emily was standing.

"Yeah, go ahead," Jason agreed, "You two did good tonight, I mean with…"

"I know what you mean," Sonny interrupted before turning and walking across the room to Emily and saying, "Hey you ready?"

"Yep, bye Luke, bye Skye and bye little Luke or Skye," she leaned down and said the last part to Skye tummy.

"God, I hope not," Skye laughed as she looked at Luke, "The last thing we need is another of either of us."

"It would serve you both right to have a kid like one of you," Sonny joked as her gave Skye as kiss on the cheek and hugged Luke.

"Get the hell out of here," Luke warned as Emily and Sonny walked away laughing.

"Oh man," Emily yawned as she walked in step with Sonny, "Let's get out of here."

"You don't want to say goodbye to anyone else?" Sonny asked.

Emily looked around to room and watched the people she'd spent the last few hours with. Ned was talking to Dillon and Georgie; probably about what to do when Brooke finally came to town for her visit, Alan and Monica were dancing slowly as the music drifted over the background of the party, Edward was sitting with Lila and whispering into her ear as she pulled on the petals of the rose in her hand, AJ snuck up behind Skye and hugged her around her neck and Nikolas was talking with Alexis and Tommy as LuLu slept peacefully in his harms.

"No, I'll see them all later." And without thinking she linked her hand with Sonny's as the walked through the house and out to the limo where Jason, Brenda, Lucky and Gia were waiting.


	9. Chapter Nine

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, wish I did.

* * *

"Hello, Johnny, my darling boy," Emily smiled as she stepped off of the elevator, pulled her hair out of the pony tail she had been wearing, and wiped the sweat off her brow.

"Hey, Em, how did the run go?"

"Amazing as usual," she laughed, as the dog rubbed up against her leg, and leaned down to pet it casually. "Bailey always gives me a great workout."

Johnny grinned as the dog walked away from Emily and came at him full force with its tail wagging and doggy drool dripping onto the floor. Dogs had been his favorite animals ever since he was a child. And he was one of the few people, who spent time guarding or otherwise engaged in the two penthouses, that didn't have a problem with Bailey's hyper-activity. He was also one of the few who wore a suit and didn't have a problem going home to his girlfriend with drool on it; she understood, they had two dogs of their own. "Where's Max?"

"Oh he's…" Emily's response was cut off but a very large, grunting man stumbling out of the elevator and into the wall in front of him.

"You were supposed to wait for me," Max chastised Emily as he leaned on the wall for support.

"Sorry, big guy, but I'm at the will of the dog," Emily joked gesturing to the animal in question that was now lounging in front of the door to the penthouse. She tried not to laugh, but each time she held it back, her mind conjured an image of Max running five steps behind her trying to maintain his speed and keep his thousand dollar shoes from getting scuffed. She would have told him to wear tennis if she'd known he was running with her.

"Maybe you should work out more often," Johnny almost felt sorry for his fellow guard, except for the fact that he would have paid Sonny to be able to trail along behind Emily while she ran instead of having to watch a door. Not that he'd ever mention that to anyone who had the power to end his life.

"Fine," Max answered as he finally caught his breath and stood up straight, "Next time you run with her."

"Hey, boys," Emily stood between them, hands in the air, in a gesture for peace. "I hate to break this to you both, but I am a grown woman who is perfectly capable of protecting herself. I don't need either of you tagging along behind me."

"Mr. Corinthos disagrees," Max, said as he raised an eyebrow over Emily's head to Johnny.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Me," Max questioned. There were two choices in a situation like this…side with Emily and hope she didn't tell Sonny what he'd said or side with Sonny and hope that Emily was in a good mood. He looked over to her and saw her eyebrow quirk up as he hesitantly answered, "I wouldn't want to meet you in a dark alley."

"Good boy," Emily laughed and let Max get away with only half-ass answering her question. There was no need to worry the poor man into an early grave and she needed to take a shower anyway. She shook her head and walked toward the door.

"Wait a second," Johnny intercepted her before she had her hand on the door. "Let me announce you."

"Into my own home?" She asked keeping up the charade of being Sonny's girlfriend, no one below Lucky in the organization knew what was really going on. They'd all gotten the same story that her family, and everyone else in the town, had gotten.

"Yeah, sorry," Johnny and Max both shifted uncomfortably, "Mr. Corinthos said I should."

"Okay," Emily tried to keep up the pretense of being fine, but she knew that both Johnny and Max probably thought they'd been dragged into some ridiculous lovers spat. She waited with a hand on her hip as Johnny opened the door and stepped in front of it, blocking her view.

"Ummmm…Emily's home," Johnny pushed the door to the penthouse open further and pointed to Emily to show proof of what he was saying.

"Emily?" Sonny questioned as he looked up semi-annoyed he, Jason, and Lucky were in the middle of some business.

"Ms. Quartermaine," Johnny corrected.

"No," Emily disputed as she walked through the door and glared at Sonny, "Emily is fine, Johnny."

"I didn't realize she'd given you permission, it's fine," Sonny was talking to Johnny, but his eyes stayed on Emily as she walked over to the corner and set food out for the dog to eat.

Johnny stood in the middle of the doorway tense from the silent conversation that was going on between Sonny and Emily. He'd never in his life seen Emily back down from an argument, not that he'd really known her for very long, but there was a time after Michael was born when he saw the girl nearly everyday and she was the most opinionated person he'd ever met. And now here she was staring down Sonny Corinthos in the middle of his penthouse, it almost brought a tear to his eye. She sure had grown up and she sure did know how to handle his boss. _Good for her_, Johnny thought as he left and let the door shut behind him. As much as he wanted to see what would happen next, he didn't want to be near those two when they finally both blew up.

"Are you busy?"

"We were just talking about…"

"Nothing," Sonny interrupted as Lucky tried to answer Emily's question. "We weren't talking about anything important. What are you doing?"

"Shower," Emily gestured toward the stairs. "I promised Bren and Gia I'd meet them for lunch. They wanted to talk to me about something. I'll probably be gone most of the day."

Jason watched, jaw clenched, as Emily walked up the stairs with the dog following closely behind her. When he heard the shower start and was sure she couldn't hear him he turned to Sonny, "Do you have to treat her like that?"

"I don't trust her yet," Sonny's answer was clipped and he didn't want to expand on it, but looking at Jason he realized that, this once, it might not matter what exactly he wanted. "Look, I know she's your sister, but I'm just not ready yet. Alright?"

"You're gonna need to get ready. Both of you." Lucky had been listening to Jason and Sonny mildly amused that the one thing they didn't agree on was probably the one thing they had most in common, right now. Both were worried about Emily, but they were both also angry with her and scared for her. Neither knew who this new Emily they were dealing with really was. "She screwed up, she knows that, but with you two both breathing down her throat all the time, one of you jumping on her for every little thing she does wrong and the other protecting her like she's a porcelain doll, it's no wonder she's keeping secrets."

"Your right," Sonny said it before Jason had the chance to respond. He really liked Lucky and didn't want to have to explain to Luke why, exactly, his son was dead. "We'll work this out somehow, either way we'll be ready for tonight. Do we have any movement on Faith and Candboy?"

Jason wanted to be angry that he didn't get to say his piece, but Sonny's nickname for Jax brought a ghost of a smile to his face. "No, no movement, but I had their phone records pulled and someone made a few calls to Venezuela. I had the account traced."

"Juicy," Lucky smiled. "Who does it belong to?"

"Lorenzo Alcazar."

"Whoa, what?" Lucky shook his head confused. "I don't get it. There's another one? Does Brenda know?"

"Yeah, she said she knew there was a brother, but forgot about it because Luis never really mentioned him."

"Okay," Sonny hesitated. "Now we know. Do a background check on the whole family. We don't need another long, lost relative popping up."

"Should we worry?"

"I don't know," Jason looked to Lucky and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We got part of one of the calls and Alcazar knows we didn't kill his brother. He doesn't want to deal with Faith and Jax, and I'm not really worried about that, but he is a big player in international arms and drugs, so he'll be here tonight."

"Alright, we'll keep a watch on him."

"We'll keep a watch on him?" Lucky looked from Jason to Sonny, "Is that all? Are you two nuts, this guy could be coming to town to get revenge or something."

"We didn't kill his brother," Jason stated matter-of-factly.

"**We** don't do a lot of things that we still get blamed for," Lucky watched confused as Sonny and Jason just shrugged their shoulders. They didn't get it. How could they not get it? "How do you guys not get this?"

"I thought he was supposed to be the relaxed one," Sonny joked, shaking his head at Lucky.

Jason laughed, well as much as Jason laughs, and padded Lucky on the shoulder, "Come on kid I'll explain it to you on they way. We gotta get to Pier 47, there's a shipment coming in."

"Fine, but I think you are two are crazy for not being more worried about this."

"We understand," Sonny soothed as he walked behind them to the door. When he reached it he looked at Jason and said, "Keep the guys on Faith and Jax and have some men waiting at the airport for our new arrival. I want to know his every move."

"Now that's more like it!" Sonny barely caught the end of Lucky's comment because Jason was already pulling the younger man out by his t-shirt and closing the door. It was sometimes hard for him to believe that Lucky was the same age as Emily—older—his conscience corrected. Lucky still acted like a teenage boy sometimes and Emily…

"Am I allowed to enter," Emily asked as she started down the stairs. "Or do I need to be announced?"

Sonny considered saying something equally childish, but when he turned to look at her the comment caught in his throat. How could she look so…sexy, just wearing everyday clothes? She had a pair of black boots on—boots that he was sure stopped at her knees, which had him imagining what she would look like in only them—jeans and a white t-shirt that ended about half an inch above her belly button which held a little sparkling…

"Sonny!"

"What," he asked as he looked up at her face and almost fell into another ridiculously childish trance. No make up, none. Yet she still looked as if she just stepped out of every man's fantasy or at least his. Not that he'd been having those about her, nope, never, no reason too…really.

"I am allowed to come down stairs now, right?"

"Stop being a smart ass." He looked up to the stairs and since she was still just standing on the first step, hands on her hips and eyebrow raised, he relented, "Come on."

"Why thank you almighty and powerful one, to what do I owe the honor?"

"Your smart-elleck mouth."

Emily laughed at him as she plopped down on the leather couch and then, almost immediately, sobered, "Seriously Sonny, if you have the guards announcing me every time I come home they are gonna know something is wrong. Or at the very least, they'll never trust me."

Sonny wanted to answer her, really he did, but he stopped listening about the time she called the penthouse her home. Her home. He hadn't thought of it that way and now that he was, he realized it wasn't an altogether uncomfortable idea.

"Sonny, ignoring me won't…"

"I know," he interrupted. "I'll tell them not to do that anymore."

"Oh," she stuttered, trying to reorganize her thoughts since she didn't have to have an all-out fight with him. "Well good then."

"Your welcome," he smiled at her flustered response. This was the first time he'd seen her even almost speechless. It was nice.

Emily saw his dimples begin to show from the smile that was forming on his face and cursed herself for reacting so easily to his arrogance. She was about to give him a nice, little piece of her mind when she heard a knock at the door. When Johnny didn't come straight in and Sonny just stared at the door she grunted, walked over to it, and almost violently ripped it open.

"Hello," the petite woman on the other side of the door said smiling. "I'm looking for Michael Cor…"

"Oh my god," Emily interrupted and swung around to look at Sonny. "I almost forgot your name is actually Michael too."

"What?" Sonny looked at her like she'd grown a second head. What in the world did his name have to do with anything?

Emily just rolled her eyes and motioned in front of her, "Door."

"Where is Johnny?"

"What the…" Emily yanked the door open the rest of the way and walked away from it. "I'm not his keeper and I'm definitely not the door man or woman. You have a guest."

"Whatever. Let her in."

Emily rolled her eyes as she sat down on the couch again and noticed the women still standing at the door looking confused. "Come on in," she said and threw a pillow at Sonny who was now sitting down at the dinning room table.

"Oh, okay," she walked in and carefully shut to door behind her. Emily studied the woman carefully, short, curly blonde hair that looked like a halo forming around her head, shinning blue eyes, full pink lips, and alabaster skin. She was probably about 5"4' and wore a dark blue button up shirt with a knee length black skirt. She was cute…if a guy liked that sort of thing. And, briefly, Emily wondered if Sonny did like that sort of thing, but before she had the chance to worry on it too long the woman broke the silence again.

"Ummmm, Mr. Cor…"

"Sonny," Emily interrupted, yet again, "Please, in the name of all that's pure and holy, call him Sonny."

The woman looked from Emily to Sonny in confusion not sure what she where she was supposed to go from here.

"It's fine," Sonny said as he got up from the chair he was sitting in and walked toward her.

"Of course it's fine, I already told her it was," Emily pouted indignantly.

"Not everyone follows your lead, sweetheart. Some people, outside of Emily's world, do like to show some respect." Sonny moved to side of the couch nearest to Emily and the fire place and stood next to her, nudging her leg with his foot to get her to move over so he could sit.

"Yeah right," Emily responded not only to his request to sit, but also to his comment about respect, but then stood up anyway when she looked at her watch. "Hey, I gotta get going. I promised Bren I'd meet her and Gia by 12:00."

"Alright," Sonny laughed as Emily went out of her way step around him so she could get her jacket off the floor next to the fireplace.

Emily pulled her jacket on and then started to walk toward the door before she remembered there was another person in the room. She looked from the woman to Sonny and back again before just giving up, walking over to Sonny and giving him a kiss on the cheek. As soon as her lips touched stubble on his cheek she wanted to just throw caution to the wind and reach the rest of the way around to his lips…who knew stubble could be sexy? Probably Sonny.

"Bye," Emily smiled at Sonny as she maneuvered around him managing to keep from touching him and looking almost intimate at the same time. After she got around that she looked to woman and smiled, holding her hand out and saying, "Nice to meet you Miss…"

"Oh, Alaina," the woman responded somewhat flustered from the interaction she had just seen. "Alaina Tierney."

As the woman answered Emily heard, for the first time, the subtle hint of…Irish in her voice and found if kind of soothing. "Well Ms. Tierney…"

"Alaina, please."

"Okay, Alaina. It was nice to meet you," Emily finished shaking the woman's hand, opened the door, and turned back to Sonny, "I shouldn't be too late. Lord knows I'll only be able to spend so much time with Brenda and Gia before I go nuts."

Emily closed the door behind her and motioned for Max who was already following in step. As she was about to enter the elevator she saw Johnny standing in front of Jason's door and assumed that he and Max had been standing there when the woman…Alaina knocked on the door. They'd probably been trying not to hear whatever they thought she and Sonny were saying. Pansies.

"You do know that both Brenda and Gia have guards, right?" Emily looked at Max who was standing in the corner of elevator.

"Yes," Max smiled. He could understand that she was getting sick of having people follow her around, but that was the choice she made when she decided to share her life with Sonny Corinthos. "When we get to the restaurant Marco and I will leave and Tony will take over guarding all three of you for the day."

"Well," Emily said turning to look at him suspiciously. "I'm glad you three got that all figure out, on your own, without asking me or Brenda or Gia."

"Yeah," Max agreed with a derisive smile. "Us guards can figure things that like out on our own every once in a while."

"You know Johnny's my favorite, right?" Emily laughed at the scowl on Max's face as she stepped off the elevator and right into someone.

"Hey, watch it," Max said as he quickly moved around Emily as he steadied her arm and effectively stepped between her and the person she hit or that hit her, neither was quite sure which.

"Max," Emily pulled his arm and tried to step in front of him before he dismembered some poor guy who was just trying to get onto the elevator. "Chill. I'm okay."

"Sorry Miss," the man looked up at her with bright brown eyes that were framed by a pair of thin wire glasses. He had a lopsided smile that was oddly disarming and as he spoke she could see that he had a slight overbite. "I didn't see you there. I was trying to watch…."

Emily grinned as he broke of and pointed to the little girl staring up at her. She smiled at the man and asked, "Oh, is she your daughter?"

"No actually. She's…" the man looked around anxiously and leaned into Emily, lowering his voice so the little girl couldn't her him, "She, well, she's a ward of the state. Her mother died about a week ago."

Emily shook her head in understanding and stared down at the little girl and studied her face carefully. She had big pop-bottle-green eyes that were shaped like saucers and looked like tears were about to pour out of them—Emily wasn't sure of that was because she was sad or if that was just how the girl's eyes looked naturally—brown hair that fell in loose curls to her shoulders with burst of blonde in a few places, a russet skin tone, and chipmunk cheeks that accentuated her pouty red lips and deep dimples. She was a special kind of beautiful reserved for little girls who lost their mother too soon and still saw the best in the world.

"Hey, sweetheart," Emily started to kneel to down to the girls level and thought better of it, she'd always hated when adults felt they needed to bend over just to have a conversations with her.

"Hi," the little girl looked up and smiled, but still held that glint in her eyes telling Emily that the look was, in fact, permanent.

"What's your name?"

"Isabella," the girl answered after she looked up to her guardian for permission. "But everybody calls me Bella."

"Well, Bella I'm Emily and this is Max."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Emily laughed at the girls innocent question as she looked at Max who was shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, "No, he's my…he's a friend."

"Oh," Bella frowned and became suddenly interested in her feet. "I had to leave all my friends."

"Really? I'm sorry. How old are you?

"Nine," she answered as she lifted her head back up and the dimpled smile returned to her face.

"Wow, you'll be an old woman soon," Emily joked and her heart warmed as the little girl flashed a bright, almost familiar, grin. She figured most kids looked alike when the smiled and since Michael was about that age it made since for the look to be familiar.

"Emily," Max said mildly intruding on her thoughts, "I'm sorry, but we need to go."

"Hey," Emily looked down at Bella, whose face dropped at the admission, "I'll see you around. Okay?" She really wasn't entirely sure that was true considering the fact that she had no idea why the girl was in Port Charles, but she figure people rarely came to this town looking for anyone and didn't find them. It was too small.

"Maybe," the girl answered, trying not to get her hopes up.

"I hope so," Emily responded and found it was true. It would be nice to see the little girl again, if only just to be sure she got to where she was headed.

"Me too."

"Hey," Emily gave in and finally bent down the girls level, "my friends call me Em and since we've gotten to know each so well it'd be okay with me if you did too. Alright?"

"Okay," Bella responded shaking her head vehemently.

"Good. Okay, I hope I'll see you around. Alright kiddo?"

"Unkay," Bella waved as Emily and Max walked away and then she looked up at the man with her, who looked mildly confused at the fact that she had actually held a full conversation with someone, and started talking about a mile-a-minute.

Max watched Emily out of the corner of his eye until they got to the car and she couldn't take it anymore, "What? God, why do you look like a stepford-guard all of the sudden?"

Max looked at her amazed that she had no idea what she'd done and laughed. "You just made that little girls day."

"No, I didn't," Emily stepped back as he opened her door to the limo and then waited until he looked at her face before she finished speaking. "To make her day I'd have to bring her mother back from the dead and I don't have that kind of power. All I did was take the hurt away from a small second of a lifetime the will be filled with mourning."

"I don't care what you call it. That little girl smiled at you and the guy with her looked like he'd fall flat on his ass he was so surprised, if someone did that for my little girl or my sister I'd be forever grateful," Max cut her off by shutting her door and then when he got in on his side of the limo they both stayed silent for the rest of the ride.

* * *

Back up in penthouse four, silence reigned as it had for minutes. Eventually Sonny couldn't take and asked the woman who'd shown up on his doorstep to sit. After she did that, silence, once again reigned.

"Miss…."

"Tierney."

"Right, sorry, Tierney…"

"Call me Alaina," she said as squirmed uncomfortably in her seat. She wanted to hate—or at least strongly dislike—the man sitting across from her, but she couldn't. She'd come into this expecting the worst and then when she saw that he was living with a younger, much younger, woman she'd thought that all of her previous bad thoughts had come to fruition. But now, sitting in a room with him, she realized that he wasn't so bad. As a matter of fact he'd treated her with nothing but respect.

"Okay," Sonny replied not sure of what was going on. "Alaina. Can I help you with something? I mean I don't want to be rude or anything, but you did come to my home, so what do you want?"

"Actually I'm not really sure how to say this, so I'll just come out with it. I have your daughter…"

"Whoa," Sonny sat forward on the coach and looked at her. "Wait, daughter?"

"Yes, Mr. Corbin your daughter."

"Cor…" Sonny eyes grew dark as all the pieces came together and realization set in. "I'm not Mike Corbin."

"Oh, God," Alaina mimicked Sonny's gesture and sat forward in her chair and rubbed her hands across her face. "I just assumed. When your…well when the door was answered…and she told me to call you Sonny. I'm so sorry."

Sonny stood up along with Alaina who was quickly heading to the door, he need to stop her, but wasn't sure if his voice would work until it actually did, "No, don't. It's okay Mike is my father. I'm Sonny Corinthos."

"Corinthos," she question. Now she was more confused than ever. He wasn't Mike Corbin, but he was Mike's son, and his name was Corinthos—not Corbin.

"My fathe—Mike changed his name."

"Right," Alaina answered, allowing all of the pieces to fall into place, as she took her hand from the door and stepped behind the chair she had been sitting in. "Well, do you know where I could find him?"

"No." The cold tone he'd answered with scared her and she took a step to the left to put the chair and more room between him and her.

She looked around for a second waiting for some response from him and as she watched him just standing in the middle of the room, steam all but shooting out of his ears she made her decision. "I guess. I'll just leave you alone…"

"Wait," Sonny once again stopped her from actually opening to door. "You said something about a child?"

"Yes," she breathed a sight of relief, "Isabella…Bella. I guess she'd be you sister."

"Are you…" Sonny scrubbed his hands over his face as he felt the energy slowly draining from his body and the cold taking over. "Are you sure she's Mike's child?"

"Yes of course," she leaned down and picked up a bag that Sonny didn't remember seeing her with and opened it. "I have her birth certificate—with his name of course—and results of a paternity test that was done."

Sonny looked at the papers she eagerly handed him and didn't have any clue what they were talking about, but she didn't know that. He just assumed that she wouldn't bother to supply papers if she were lying; there would have been easy ways to get around not having them. "Okay. Why are you looking for Mike?"

"About a week ago there was an accident," Alaina answered as she braced herself on the chair and hoped that she wasn't going to have to send Bella to foster care. "Both your sister and her mother were involved, Bella came out of it okay, there were a few bumps and scrapes and the seat belt left a nasty bruise across her chest, but other than that she was fine. Her mother, however, went through the windshield and was left in a coma; a few days later she died. I've been trying to find Mike Corbin ever since then, but every time I got close his trail would just end. I guess he moves around a lot?"

"That's one way to put it," Sonny laughed as he moved across the room.

"Yeah," she responded as she watched him move almost automatically to the bar and pour himself a drink; she was worried until he knocked it back and then sat the glass on the table and walked over to the couch to sit down. The man had just found out he had a sister; he was allowed to have a drink, right? "Well, I was finally lead here and I found the place fairly quickly so I came as soon as I could."

"And you what? Brought a—How old is she?"

"Nine."

"Right," Sonny nodded. She was the same age as Michael, which meant that Mike had been spending at least some time in town when she was born. Why wouldn't he tell his son that he had a sister? "So what? You just decided it would be a great idea to bring a nine-year-old girl with you on this adventure?"

"Yes, I did," she answered defensively. How dare he? "It was either that or leave her in a temporary placement, would you have rathered that? And anyway, I don't _exactly_ work for the state. Exactly."

"Exactly? Well, who exactly do you work for?"

"I work more in the private sector. My firm usually handles adoptions, things like that."

"So why are you here?"

"Bella's mother called my boss a week before her accident to set up some precautions just in case anything happened to her."

"Wait," Sonny all of the sudden felt something twist in his gut, "She called a week before she died?"

"To the day."

"Shit," Sonny started toward the door. "Where is the girl—Bella?"

"She's downstairs."

"Okay," Alaina watched as Sonny opened the door, talked with a man for a couple of seconds, then he came back in and continued on. "I'm sending someone downstairs to get her. Stay here."

"Alright," she answered as she watched him go through an open walkway a couple of feet away from the main entrance. She finally breathed a sigh of relief, once he was out of sight, fairly certain that Bella was now in safe hands.

* * *

Emily dashed into the restaurant flushed and windblown, but wearing a smile Brenda hadn't seen in years.

"What are you grinning about?"

"Nothing," Emily answered, but then the smiled seeped through again. "We ran into a sweet girl on the way over here. I was just thinking about her."

"Really," Brenda questioned and then raised her eyebrows as she looked to Max. "Did you try to date her?"

"She was nine…"

"Probably be ten soon," Emily interrupted and outright laughed at the looked on Max's face. She'd never seen a grown man scowl like a little boy so well in her life. It was hilarious.

"Finally, someone who shares your love of Barbie," Gia piped up from behind the menu she had been looking at.

"The doll was for my niece," Max answered.

"That's nice," Gia grinned up at him mischievously as she sat the menu down in front of her. "But I was talking about your last girlfriend."

Marco, who had been standing in the corner, threw his head back and laughed; unknowingly eliciting attention from Brenda that he surely didn't want. Even as he laughed she was turning to look at him, a dark glint shinning in her brown eyes.

"Didn't you date his last girlfriend's younger and dumber sister?"

Tony, who was standing next to Max, laughed and Emily turned to look at him. And when no one made a joke about him she asked, "What you guys don't have anything on him?"

"I'm married," Tony answered and received a grunt from Marco and Max, while Emily, Gia, and Brenda just laughed.

"Yeah, you're married," Max leaned over to him and said, "but you're also the guy that gets to spend the day with these three."

"So what," Gia shot a warning look at Max, "that means he's a winner all around and you two are losers all around, right?"

"Yeah sure," Max answered and then turned to Marco. "Let's get out of here."

The three women at the table watched Max and Marco leave as Tony stepped around to take Marco's spot in the corner.

"I think he just insulted us," Gia said staring at the two men's backs as they went out the door.

"Yep. We'll show them." Emily grinned and then looked to Tony. "Hey, Tony?"

"Yes, mam," he answered even though there was a strong sense of foreboding hanging in the air.

"First call me Emily. Mam makes me feel—not old, but…"

"Haughty," Gia supplied.

Emily thought about that word for a second and it's implications, proud, self-important, snotty…yep. "Close enough," she answered and turned to Tony. "Second, on our way out today Gia almost stepped in front of a car, but it's a good thing that you were here to save her."

"Ma—Emily?"

"Yeah," she laughed at the confused look on his face. "You saved Gia's life today. And while she was ranting about the horrible way Marco and Max treated her, no less. You're a hero."

"Oh yeah," Brenda, who was catching on, agreed. "The guys will appreciate your professional behavior so much they may give you a raise. Maybe they'll even take it out of Marco and Max's checks."

"I can't lie."

"Don't worry," Emily smiled as she looked at Tony, "you don't have to. We can. And when they ask you if we're telling the truth you can say no and get an even bigger raise."

"I…"

"Oh just agree," Gia looked at the two other women at the table and then back to Tony. "You don't have to do anything and if it makes you feel better I'll step in front of a car as we leave."

Tony just smiled at her and then leaned back into the corner, again becoming part of the background.

"So," Emily said changing the subject, "what do you two want to talk to me about anyway?"

Brenda and Gia looked conspiratorially at each other, over to Emily and then back at each other as Gia motioned for Brenda to speak.

"A business venture."

"A good one," Gia added.

"A…"

"Hello ladies," Their waiter interrupted as he stepped over to their table. He was about 6 feet tall, with brown hair and blues eyes, they could see his muscles even through the white button-up shirt he was wearing, and the jeans he had on did his butt nothing, but justice. The man—boy was probably a better description seeing how he couldn't have been older than twenty—was sex scooped into a pair of Levi's. "How can I help you?"

"For starters you could strip down naked and…"

"Gia!" Emily interrupted her and looked to the waiter who had an unashamed grin on his face. "I think we'll start with beers—all around."

"No way," Gia snorted as she pulled the strap to her cream slip dress back up onto her shoulder, getting the attention of the barely-post-pubescent waiter. "I've got a shoot in less than a week. Give me a diet whatever."

"Okay, and you miss?" The boy grinned as he looked at Brenda who was still searching through the menu to find the drinks. He carefully reached over her shoulder, brushing against the black, silk, low-cut shirt she was wearing, to show her the page the drinks were on.

Brenda looked up at the _man-child_ and started to tell him that his attempt to see down her shirt wasn't at all slick, but then decided against it. She had been a teenager after all, and remembered what it was like wanting to get that one look. Instead of rebuking him she just turned around, gave him her most stunning smile, and said, "I'll have a glass of wine and the fish."

"What type of wine would you like," he asked and had everyone, including himself and Tony, surprised that he could even get the words out of his mouth.

"Whatever you think is best," Brenda answered.

"Oh yeah—I guess I'll have a Caesar salad." Gia jumped in and almost felt sorry for the poor boy, he had no idea what he was walking into when he decided to come to work that morning.

"And, Ummmm…." He cleared his throat trying to make it through this so he could go and tell the guys in the back the three hot women were hitting on him. "What would you like?"

"I want the beer and the Mediterranean salad," Emily was the only one who didn't flirt with the poor boy, not because she wasn't enjoying this, but because she wasn't sure if he could actually withstand anymore.

"Ummmm…alright ladies, I'll go put your orders in and be back with your drinks." By the time he got that out he was back to normal and made is way away from the table pretty well, for someone whose pants were probably very uncomfortable.

"Okay," Emily smiled as she along with Gia and Brenda watched the kid walk away, he may have been young and they may have been older, but all the women at the table could appreciate a nice butt. The men they were dating were a testament to that.

"Okay what?" Brenda asked once all of their attention was back at the table.

"Okay what's this business venture?"

"A club…sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Well, not sort of. Actually."

"Port Charles has clubs."

"Not like this one," Gia responded excitedly.

"It has all kinds," Emily pointed out.

"Exactly!"

"Exactly?" Emily looked from Gia to Brenda and shook her head trying to get some understanding from what each of them had just said and failing. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

"Okay, just think of it like this," Gia started as she leaned back into her chair and tried to picture the club she and Brenda had talked about. "We take the music from Luke's, add a little R&B, the people from the Haunted Start, and the ambiance…so to speak from Jakes and put that all into our club. Maybe throw in some food we haven't decided yet."

"Oh, yes, we have," Brenda disagreed, "and we decided against it."

Gia looked to Emily and had an epiphany, "As the third partner you'd be the tie breaker on that."

"Whoa, wait, partner?" Emily settled back and let the thought sneak its way into her head. She wanted to be appalled, to say no, but there was a small part of her that liked the idea. She wouldn't mind having a place to go where she could just relax, not that there was anything wrong with any of those other places, but they weren't hers and she couldn't kick people out if she wanted.

"It's perfect Em. While you're working on…" Brenda broke off when Emily looked up at her sharply, "that thing you're working on, the club could be your cover. And when you're done with—that thing— you'll have a job ready and waiting. Especially since Gia and I will mostly be silent partners, with her modeling and me running Deception, there's no way we'd be able to handle the day-to-day. That's why you're perfect!"

"Well if both of you are too busy, what brought this on?"

"The launch party," Gia answered.

"How does that work?"

"We were looking for someplace to have it and nothing fit. The Haunted Star was too much like asking people to pay to come, the Grille is too…Grilly, Luke's is too smoky, Jakes—just no. There just hasn't been anywhere," Brenda sat forward putting her chin in her hands.

"So you want to open a club," Emily asked confuse.

"Well yeah," Gia responded.

"No," Brenda added as she scowled at Gia. "Not only for that, there have been other things. We want a place to go, other than the No Name, where we they guys can feel comfortable and…"

"Whoa," Emily interrupted, finally seeing where this was going. "You want this to be a place where they can have _business _meetings? I'm sure their going to go for that."

"Yet another reason we need you on board," Gia said trying to butter her up—and sort of succeeding. "You could convince them of anything, Bren and I don't have that power. Jason only listens to me when he has to and Sonny doesn't listen to anyone, except you, who doesn't have a dic…"

"Please," Brenda said stopping her from finishing the sentence. "None of us need to go there. Look Em, we'd just really like you to be in on this with us."

"Guys," Emily looked exasperated as her phone rang. When she saw Sonny's number she briefly considered not answering, but decided against it. "Hold on," she said to the two other women and then answered the phone.

"Hello, what's up? Now? What's so important? Just me," Emily asked and then looked to Tony who was still blending into the background, but seemed to be on high alert. "Yeah he's here. All right I'm on my way. Will Max be…? Good. Bye."

"What's wrong," Brenda asked as she leaned over to get her purse off the floor.

"I don't think anything is wrong," Emily answered and hoped she was right. "We've got a meeting tonight and Sonny wants to talk."

"Should we…" Brenda motioned to her purse that was now on the table and started to put on her jacket.

"No, it's okay. You two should stay and eat."

"You sure," Gia asked skeptically.

"Yeah," Emily said as she spotted Max coming through the door and got up to leave.

"Hey," Gia grabbed onto Emily's jacked and held her in place. "The club?"

"I'll think about it," Emily laughed at Gia's insistence and then left.

"What was that about?"

"Who knows," Brenda looked to the door and then shrugged her shoulders. "Business."

"Oh, well," Gia answered distractedly and the smiled mischievously at Brenda. "Not too long now."

"For what?"

"Before they actually fall for each other."

"You think," Brenda asked looking skeptically at the door.

"I give it a week before they share a bed."

"A month, at least, if ever," Brenda responded.

They were both going to be wrong.

* * *

"Sonny what the hell is so urgent that you had to call in the middle…" Emily walked into the penthouse and just let loose, but after looking around and seeing Jason, Lucky, the woman and man from earlier, and…

"Emily! Hi!" Bella said from her place on the couch between Jason and Lucky.

"You two have met?" Sonny looked from Bella to Emily, confused.

"Yes, what is…"

"Are you Emily's friend too," Bella asked as she hoped off the couch and when to stand in front of Sonny who was leaning against the fireplace.

"No I'm…" Sonny didn't want to lie, but he honestly had no idea how the answer that question.

"He's my boyfriend," Emily supplied, seeing the trapped look on Sonny's face.

"Cool," the little girl looked up at her brother, an adoring smile already plastered on her face after knowing him for such a short time. "Does that mean I get to live with you both?"

"Yeah, Bella you do," Sonny noticed the shocked look on Emily's face and decided he might as well tell her, "Emily, Bella is my sister."

"Oh."


	10. Chapter Ten

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

_Sonny has a little sister. Sonny Corinthos has a little sister. Mike has a daughter. Bella is Sonny's sister and Mike's daughter. Weird._

"Weird." Emily flopped back on the couched and tried to take in all she had learned. Now she was beginning to understand how the past few days had been for Sonny, learning one new thing about her after another.

"Very weird," Lucky agreed as he sat next to her on the couch. Emily turned to look at him just in time to see him scrunch up his face like a little boy trying to figure out a puzzle.

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking," Lucky answered as he turned to look at her.

"Don't hurt yourself."

Just as Lucky was about to answer, Sonny came walking back into the penthouse. He looked at Emily and Lucky sitting, stunned, on the couch and Jason leaning casually next to the fireplace. _Of course he would be calm and controlled_, Sonny thought, _he didn't just find out about some long, lost sister._

"How is she," Jason asked as Sonny closed the door.

"Okay, I guess. She's going to spend tonight with Brenda, Gia, and Michael at your place. The social worker…or whatever will be back tomorrow to see what I decide."

"What do you mean decide? I thought she was staying here," Emily asked suspiciously as Sonny started walking over to get himself a drink.

"She is. I meant decide about Mike."

"What about Mike?"

Sonny looked over at her for a second, before lifting up the glass in his hand and looking down into it. He stood there for a second, mesmerized as the dark brown liquid swirl in his hand. "Ms. Tierney," he began slowly as his eye stayed focused on the bourbon, "believes I should apply for custody of Bella. She says that and looking for Mike are my only option. Either way I'll need, at least, temporary guardianship or something like that."

"You not gonna do that are you?" Emily asked disbelievingly, "Just apply for custody without trying to find Mike."

"She says I have to show proof that I tried…something about an ad in the paper."

"Yeah, but Sonny, you're gonna do more than that right?"

"Why should I?"

"Look, don't get me wrong, I know Mike and I love him, but also know he isn't really fit to raise a child. But Sonny you've got to at least let him know what's going on."

"Why?"

"Why?" Emily looked at him indignantly and then to Jason and Lucky for some sort of assistance. No help there, either. "Because he's her father."

"Maybe he should have acted like it!"

"That's not fair Sonny."

"I don't have to be fair to him!"

"No, your right. You have to be fair to her!"

Sonny looked at Emily for a second, studying her, trying to decide if she was right. Should he tell Mike? Was that even his job? _Who cares_, he thought as he look down to the drink in his hand and finally swallowed its dark contents.

"Listen," Jason, who had been standing silently, finally decided it was his turn to weigh in. "Sonny. We should at least let Mike knows she's safe."

"Is she," Sonny asked skeptically?

Emily and Lucky's heads both whipped up and Jason just pinched the bridge of his nose. "What do you mean?" They all asked simultaneously.

"Victoria," Sonny answer, "Bella's mother, she made all these arrangements, to find Mike, a week before she died."

"That…" Lucky began, "is not a coincidence. Is it?"

"Doubt it." Sonny looked around the room cautiously before he sat down in his chair and relaxed.

"You think it's about business," Jason asked carefully and waited for Sonny to shake his head in response.

"Wait. No. It couldn't be."

"What are you talking about," Sonny looked at Emily like she was a child who just spoke out of turn at a family meeting. "You think this is a coincidence?"

"No, Sonny. I don't believe I've ever been that naïve, but just because it wasn't some freak accident doesn't mean it has a damn thing to do with you. I mean, probably, this woman didn't even know you exist. And you surely didn't know about her. So what does killing her—no warning, no reason—have to with you?"

"Nothing." Lucky answered cautiously, "She's right. Any one of our enemies would have made sure you knew who killed her and put your little sister in harms way."

"So what, it was just a shot at her?"

"Or Mike," Jason looked to Sonny as he answered the question and, in turn, everyone looked at him. "You know Mike, he attracts trouble. Doesn't mean to, just does."

"Yeah," Sonny agreed. "He does."

"So maybe Bella's mother was trouble or maybe something caught up to one of them. Trust me Sonny, you don't make arrangements for your child unless you think you might need them—not that quickly."

"Alright," Sonny grimaced at Jason and scrubbed his hands across his face. "Put one of the guys on it, we need to find Mike and figure out what happened. But we can't worry about it too much right now, not with everything else we've got going. Does Bella have a guard?"

"Yup," Lucky supplied.

"Good," Sonny nodded at Lucky and then looked at Emily who was sitting smugly, smiling at him. He ignored the look on her face and pointed at her, "We need to get you ready for tonight."

"I'm ready," she said indignantly. "I've studied the files…"

"No, the FBI's files aren't good enough," Emily wanted to laugh out loud; Sonny had said FBI in the same way she'd imagined him saying dog shit. "You need to really understand what you're getting into. Trust me."

She sobered quickly. _Trust me_, he'd said. Could she?

Emily looked into Sonny's eyes trying to find something, anything that she could believe in and hang onto. She stared him for what seemed to be an eternity for all in the room and decided, "Okay."

"Alright," Lucky grinned and threw a set of files on the table in front of him and Emily. "These beautiful little files hold all of our personal info on the bosses that will be there tonight."

"Vito Corelli," Emily said as she looked at the picture of the man on the first file she'd picked up. He had short, black, silky hair with a little salt and pepper added to the sides. His light green eyes shown out from the picture and accentuated his dark olive skin.

"Good choice," Lucky commented. "Old school. He plays by all the rules laid out years ago. He's one of the very few left that even remember the rules before La Cosa Nostra, but he doesn't really like women in the business. Especially Faith."

"Good point," Sonny agreed, "but he does seem to have a soft spot for fiery brunettes."

"Perfect," Emily smiled.

"Yeah," Sonny grinned. "Rumor is that his wife ran his business last year when he was in the hospital."

"Heart attack, right?"

"Yup! Good girl, Emily. I guess the good-for-nothing-FBI does get things right sometimes, huh," Lucky flinched forward as Emily smacked the back of his head. "Anyway, since the heart attack he's been better than ever."

"Alright next?"

Jason leaned over and picked up a file off of the table and handed it to Emily after he checked the name. "Anthony Marciano."

"Tony!"

"You know him," Jason asked her suspiciously?

"Yeah, he usually works out of Vegas, but I dealt with him about a year and a half ago in Mexico. A couple of months before his father died."

"What do you remember?"

"He's quite, damn near sweet, usually, but if you make the mistake of pissing him off… There's no question, he's a mobster through and through," Emily grimaced as she remembered his usually warm brown eyes hardening when she told him one of his men had betrayed him.

"He's the youngest of three brothers," Sonny started. "The oldest was supposed to take over the family business, but refused when he got married. Tony was the only one of them who couldn't say no to his father. And, as you know his father was killed."

"Yeah, I remember. Bank heist gone wrong. He actually did just happen to be in the wrong place etc, etc."

"It just about tore the kid apart," Sonny said. He remembered Tony sitting, a brother on each side, stoically for over an hour as the funeral service and paying of respects went on. Then back at the Marciano estate, Sonny stumbled on him in his fathers study. Shoulders that were usually strong and broad were slumped over and shaking as sobs racked the youngest Marciano's body. His black hair was covering up his eyes and it reminded Sonny of a little boy, years before, locked in a closet with now way out…

"Next," Emily captured Sonny's eyes as she lifted the last file and handed it to him.

Sonny looked into her brown eyes, he'd expected pity, annoyance, something, but all he got was compassion shinning back at him. He shook his head as he noticed her reaching out to take his hand; instead he took the file from her. "Dante Verdicof."

"You know him?" Jason looked over at Emily as she scrunched up her face trying to remember if she recognized the name.

"No, I don't think so."

"Okay," Sonny wasn't surprised; he didn't think she'd moved up quite far enough to have dealings with him, yet. "He's Demetri Valencia's second, but Demetri is dying and being one of the last of the old school guys, along with Corelli, not one has asked him to step down. Demetri and Dante are two of the very few mixtures of Russian and Sicilian families. Dante is Demetri's nephew."

"Nephew," Emily looked around confused. "I may be wrong, but I thought Demetri had sons. And good lord to all of the men in that family have names that begin with DV? It's really confusing!"

"No, actually they don't," Sonny, grinned as Emily held up the two files trying to remember which was which. "And, yes, Demetri does have two sons, he didn't want the in the business."

"Oh. So who is gonna be there tonight nephew Dante or uncle Demetri?"

"Don't know. Sometimes Demetri is up to it…sometimes not."

Now it was Emily's turn to scrub her hands over her faces as she picked up the next file, "Oh lord, my favorite asshole."

"Sorel," Jason supplied as he walked around to the back of the couch and looked at the file over her shoulder.

"Anything I should know about him?"

"Yeah," Lucky answered. "He was Moreno's second and he's about two times as dumb."

"Well since Moreno was an idiot, I guess that's good to know," she laughed as she reached for the next folder and frowned—considering. "Well, I don't need to be briefed on this one."

"Yes, you do," Sonny waited until he was sure she was paying attention before continuing on. "I don't care what you think you know about Andrejs Nikolai, he's dangerous. I don't want you alone with him—not tonight."

"But…"

"No," Jason interrupted from above her. "Sonny's right. We've all heard about him, but no one here has ever seen him in action. I don't want you alone with him especially with Faith and…"

"Candyboy," Lucky supplied happily, breaking the tension and making everyone laugh.

"Yeah, sure. Especially not with them there."

"I don't get that," Emily sat back and looked up at Jason. "How do those two have any power?"

"Jax has enough power in the legit business world to be a possible threat for anyone on that front. And Faith is just too crazy for anyone to go there—yet."

"Okay, who's the last file?" Emily picked it up and looked at it and thee threw the file back on the desk as like it had bit her. "Ugh! You're kidding me right."

"Would we do that?" Lucky looked over at the file and couldn't blame her, he had the same response when he found out that Danny Marciano was also going to be at the meeting.

"Great. Danny. My least favorite Marciano."

"Everyone's least favorite Marciano," Lucky added. "At least it's easy to tell him apart from the rest of the family. He's the only blonde haired, blue eyed one in the bunch."

"Yea, well, word on the street was that Danny's mom cheated on dear old dad and rather than admit he couldn't control his wife he just raised the bastard child. I, personally, don't believe that. Father and son are too much alike for my taste."

"Wait," Lucky held up his hand, "this always confuses me. Danny is Tony's…what?"

"Cousin. Tony's father is Danny's uncle…"

"But Danny's father isn't related to Tony's father?"

"Right," Emily answered and then looked over at Lucky who seemed to be more confused than ever. "Oh my gosh, it's not that hard! Look Tony's father is the brother of Danny's mother. Got me? Good. Okay when Danny was born he didn't take his father's last name, his mother wanted him to have her families name. Understand now?"

"Yes mother, but this would all be much less confusing if we only had one Marciano to deal with."

"Good point," Emily agreed.

"Most people would agree with that," Sonny added. "But about ten years ago the Marciano family split. The good, loyal half ended up with Tony and his father. And the rest with Danny and his father. For a while Danny's dad kept business moving, but since he died five years ago Danny just keeps getting weaker and weaker. That's what makes him dangerous, he'd do anything to move up. Anything."

"Good to know…" Emily trailed off as she noticed another file on the floor in front of her; she looked around the table and counted all that was there. Seven. That was right, wasn't it? "Who's this?"

"Alcazar," Jason answered as he looked at the folder.

"Lorenzo?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"Of him," she answered and opened up the thin file.

"Welcome to the club," Lucky said. "No one knows much about him. He's sort of the wild card, but Happy and Bashful over there don't seem too worried about him."

Emily looked up at Jason and grinned at the confused look on his face, "The seven dwarfs Jase."

"I have a family, Em."

"I thought you and Michael only read travel books together."

"I do," he answered almost shyly. "Bren likes the fairytales."

Lucky busted out laughing before the words even left Jason's mouth. "You read your wife fairytales? That's…"

"Sweet," Emily said as she lifted her boot encase foot and brought it down on Lucky's. "Really sweet. And anyone who thinks differently will deal with my wrath."

"I'm shaking."

"Shut up, Dopey."

"As much as I love to sit here and listen to the two of you argue back and forth…" Sonny interrupted the fight that was ready to break out between Lucky and Emily and looked directly at Emily. "We need to get ready."

"He's right," Jason responded quickly, glad for the subject change.

Lucky and Jason both head toward the door as Sonny picked up the files off of the table in front of Emily. She watched the three men for a second, stunned before saying, "Hold on. Where are you two going? I thought we were all going to this meeting together."

"Crap!"

"Crap what," Emily asked looking as Jason and Lucky standing at the door. "Jason? Crap what?"

Sonny took one looked at the confused and worried look on Emily's face and almost cursed himself. With all the stuff that happened with Bella they'd forgotten to tell Emily about the change of plans.

"Em, we're not going."

"You two go ahead," Sonny interrupted before Emily could respond to Jason revelation. When Jason and Lucky were both out the door he turned and looked at Emily.

"What the hell is going on?"

"We got a call before you got back, that's why we pulled out the files to brief you. There is a late shipment that's coming in tonight; Lucky and Jason have to meet it."

"Both of them?"

"Yes. Don't worry. I'll be by your side the whole night."

"Promise," Emily asked?

Sonny was about to give a smart elleck answer when he looked over and saw the look on her face. Vulnerability. Natural vulnerability. Interesting.

"Yeah, I promise. Come on, let's go get ready." He smiled at her as he led her upstairs with his hands resting protectively on her lower back.

* * *

"Hello old friend," Vito Corelli smiled as Demetri Valencia was led into his hotel room by his second in command.

"Long time Vito. How are you?"

"Good, good, fit as the day I was born."

"You were nearly two months premature in the 1930's"

"Yes, well, I am an old man you know."

"Don't remind me," Demetri replied as he shook his head.

"You both do well enough," Dante replied from behind his boss's wheelchair.

"Sweet boy," Demetri smiled as he patted the younger mans hand. "Would you mind giving me some time alone with my old friend?"

"Sure…"

"No." Corelli interrupted. "There's no need to kick the boy out. He probably understands more of this than either of us old men do."

"Alright. Stay," Demetri motioned for Dante to sit down and the younger man followed orders.

"So, Sonny Corinthos," Corelli said as he settled back into his chair. "Did either of you have any clue that he would come into the drug trade?"

"No sir," Dante answered.

"Call me Vito."

"Yes, sir."

Vito Corelli threw his head back and laugh boisterously, if Dante hadn't known better he would have expected the walls to shake as the laugh rumbled through the room.

"You trained the boy well," Vito pointed out.

"Yes," Demetri answered casually.

"Still humble I see. Anyway, what do you thin Corinthos is up to? It's not like he needs the extra money or territory he could gain from this. Why come in how when he's nearly untouchable, this could put that old target back on him?"

"Word is," Demetri answered, "that he started this when he met Corey Wilson, but my feeler say there were signs before that."

"Yes, well Ms. Quartermaine is a mystery isn't she?"

"Who?"

Corelli looked to Dante, who shook his head to signal that he hadn't yet given his boss that information. "Sorry old friend I thought someone had told you…"

"It's my fault," Dante said and bowed his head at Vito Corelli as apology for interrupting. "I should have told you before."

"Tell me now," Demetri answer coldly.

"Corey Wilson, the women whose been making a name for herself these past few years," Dante looked up to makes sure his boss was still following, when Demetri shook his head he continued on. "She's also Emily Quartermaine, Jason Morgan's little sister."

"Well then, things sure are different then they were when we were younger."

"Yes they are. Have you used her for anything Demetri?"

"I don't…" he looked to his second in command for an answer. "Dante?"

"Almost, once. On a deal we had in Prague about a year back, but we handed it ourselves instead."

"Uhh…David, the little, unloyal bastard."

"Yes, well, it happens," Corelli responded with a bit of humor in his voice. "I've known a couple of men who've used her very unique services. Being a woman she can get into places most others can't. They say she's very good at whatever she'd being hired for, hitter, courier, muscle even, the list goes on…"

"You think she's using Corinthos?"

"No," Dante answered his boss's question. "They say she's loyal to a fault to the people she loves."

"But you're not sure," Corelli asked?

"I'm sure Corinthos is safe, but anyone who crosses her… We'll I wouldn't do it."

"Well then," Corelli answered. "None of us will. As a matter of fact, we should just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show."

"I haven't seen a good show in a very long time," Demetri responded.

* * *

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." The little girl with short black hair and almond shape black eyes came running through the dinning room of the estate her and her family lived on.

"Zoe, Zoe, Zoe," Tony Marciano reached down and lifted the little girl up off of the floor and into his arms. "What's the problem, Pixie?"

"Protect me!"

"From who?"

"Mama!" The little girl looked over her should warily and then back to her father. "She's coming for me!"

Tony grinned at the lower lip that his daughter had sticking out and looked down finally noticing the purple robe that was wrapped around her tiny body. "Is she?"

"Uh huh," his daughter stared up at him with the most serious look he had ever seen in her eyes.

"Could that be because you're supposed to be getting a bath right now?"

"Uhhh…"

"Yes that could be exactly the reason." Looking at the woman it would be obvious to tell where the little girl got her striking black eyes from, but the long brown hair and lengthy body didn't pass from mother to daughter. The woman smiled at her child and the looked up at her husband and kissed his cheek. "Hello my beautiful husband."

"Hello my beautiful wife."

"Daddy," the little girl wiggled in her father's arms.

Tony leaned down and kissed her on her chubby cheek, "And my beautiful daughter."

"Hi Daddy!"

"Are you torturing your mommy?"

"I don't thinks so," she looked over to her mother, confused. "Am I mommy?"

"Yes, Pixie you are."

"Oh, yes Daddy I am," she smiled proudly up at her father.

"Well stop it," he laughed as he pulled his daughter up so she was nose to nose with him.

"Okay Daddy," the little girl answered before falling back into the routine she shared with her father and giggling so that he would pull her back away from his face.

"And go finish your bath," he said as he set her down on the floor in front of him.

"Fine, but I don't like it."

"Fine, but I don't care."

Zoe stopped mid-stride, turned, hands on her hips and whined, "Daddy"

"Pixie."

"Don't be mean, please."

"Alright Pixie go get your bath."

"K, Daddy."

"You've created a monster," Marisol Marciano smiled at her husband.

"Just like her mommy," he answered as he turned and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Oh yeah right," she laughed as she hit him on the shoulder. "Look again buddy, with the exception of the eyes that girl is the spitting image of her daddy."

"She is isn't she?"

"Yes she is," she answered as she leaned back into her husband's strong arms and rested her head on his shoulder, smelling him—a mix of cologne, sweat, and something that was pure male and pure Tony.

"Mari…"

"Promise me."

"I promise," he answered without even hearing what the promise was. It was a ritual they'd shared from the day after their daughter was born.

"Good."

"Mommy," Zoe yelled from down the hallway. "I'm ready!"

"Go give your little monster a kiss before you leave."

"Okay," he said as he walked down the hall to his daughter.

"Tony," he wife said almost desperately trying to get his attention. "I love you."

Tony grinned out into the dark as the hallway became a dark garage, the safety he'd felt at home quickly melted away and he was flanked by two guards. His wife's beautiful smile faded just as the hallway had and he remember that she was in Las Vegas with their little Pixie and he was in Port Charles alone.

"Are you ready sir," the guard to his right asked as the limo stopped in front of them.

"Yeah," he answered and the looked down at the wedding ring on his finger. He turned it gently as he did when he was thinking of his wife and whispered into the night air, "I love you more."

* * *

"Who the hell is the mystery guy anyway?" Danny Marciano stepped carefully into the shadows of the alley and for a second was reminded of a movie he once saw where the main character went in an alley that looked a lot like this one and didn't come out alive.

"You'll see," Joseph Sorel answered cryptically.

"I don't want to see. I want to know!"

"Patience Mr. Marciano," Andrejs Nikolai glowered as he stepped out of the shadows, "is a virtue. Just one of the many you don't have."

"Who the hell are you?" Danny squinted trying to get a better look at the man, but the black hair and the dark clothes made it nearly impossible for him to get a good enough look.

"My friends call me Nikolai. My loyal employees call me sir. And I prefer it if you didn't address me at all."

"Listen asshole," Danny grumbled as he stepped forward, but was cut off by something gripping his throat—first lightly, but the more and more pressure was applied until he could barely feel even wisps of air making t to his lungs.

"I suggest," Nikolai smiled as he squeezed tighter, "that you shut up and listen."

Danny shook his head in agreement until he was released and he broke into a fit asking, between coughs, "What…What do you want from me?"

"What part of shut up and listen was confusing to you?"

"Non…Sorry."

"Good boy," Nikolai responded coldly as he stepped away from Danny and looked at Sorel who was standing quietly in the corner—it hadn't taken near as many warnings to train him. "This isn't about what I want, at least now yet. It's about what you want and what I can give you. If, and only if, you play by my rules."

"What do I have to do?"

Nikolai smiled and his white teeth contrasted brightly in the dark alley causing shivers to move up Sorel's spine.

* * *

"How do we do it?"

Jax rolled over as he caught his breath and pulled Faith back over him, where she had been straddling him only minutes before giving him one of the best fucks of his life. "Like this," he answered.

"Excuse me," she grinned mischievously knowing exactly what he meant.

"No, I will not excuse you," he answered as he flipped them both over so that he was straddling her waist. "I think," he trapped her hands above her head with one hand and moved the other down the length of her taut body, "that you need to pay Lorenzo Alcazar a visit."

"Ummmm…" Faith laughed biting at his lips—as he reached down to kiss her—drawing blood. "What kind of visit?"

"The kind that ends the way our first one did."

"I hope he can handle it," she said as she lifted her hips and ground into him.

"I don't."

* * *

Lorenzo Alcazar stared out the window of his limousine as the driver maneuvered it through the streets of Port Charles. Port Charles. The city where his brother was murdered not even a year before. What the hell was he doing in this town?

_Business._

Everything. He reminded himself, everything, came down to the almighty dollar.

He'd spent years learning that rule from his father and his brother, who felt the need to pound in a little harder in the years when Lorenzo actually decided he wanted a family. A family that—like his brother—left him in a violent and predictable manner that came with the business.

His pregnant wife was killed nearly twenty-four years before in a car bombing that had been meant for him. For him and his brother and his father, all of who survived. The people who were meant to die in this business rarely did, it was usually the innocent bystanders who ended up on slabs in the morgue with their families tearfully standing over their bodies.

This business, as his father reminded him after Luis was shipped home to be buried, was not for the faint of heart.

"Mr. Alcazar?" The driver turned and looked at his boss.

"Yes."

"We're hear sir, are you ready?"

_Am I ready? _

"Of course," Alcazar smiled as his door was opened for him, "I'm always ready. It's my job."


	11. Chapter Eleven

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel AKA Girfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

"Pull over!"

"Excuse me, mam?" Marco turned around and looked to Emily, shocked at her command.

"Pull over. Am I speaking in Spanish?"

"Sir?"

"Pull over Marco," Sonny turned to look at Emily and immediately became concerned. The color had drained from her face, her eyes had gone cold, and she looked like she was about to throw up all over everything. "Are you okay?"

"No!" Emily shouted at Sonny. As soon as the car glided to a stop she shoved the door open and stuck her head out, vomiting on the sidewalk next to them. She pushed the door open further so that she didn't ruin the upholstery and just as she was about to grunt in frustration at her hair being in the way she felt Sonny's fingers skim her neck as he pulled it back and held it tightly in his hands.

"Better?"

"I think…No!" Emily lurched forward again as she answered Sonny's question with yet another bout of vomiting. She held her head out of the side of the door as she waited for the churning in her throat and stomach to calm. Once she was sure her stomach wasn't going to revolt again she pulled the door closed and sat back into the seat with her eyes closed as her face cooled off.

"What's wrong?" The panic that had been rising up in Sonny's chest simmered down as he saw the color coming back to her face very quickly.

"Wedding day jitters," she answered back quietly.

"Wedding day…what?"

"Jitters," she grunted as she slowly opened her eyes. She pulled a piece of gum out of her purse, popped it in her mouth, and turned to look at him. The worry on his face startled her for a second and then made her want to erupt with laughter. Did he think she was going to die or something? "You know before people get married the get butterflies in their stomach and want to throw up?"

"Sort of."

"Well, it's like that, kind of. I get really sick before I'm about to do something important, and this Sonny boy, is the most important thing I'm gonna be doing for a while."

"Okay, first, don't call me Sonny boy. Second calm done, you've done great so far."

"Okay, yeah, well, your right about that, but I'm not sure how much greatness I've got left."

"Don't worry, I'll share some of mine."

"Well thank you Mr. Universe."

"Don't get an attitude sweetheart," Sonny grinned as Emily huffed back into her seat and glared at him out of the corner of her eye.

"It's not an attitude, just my personality. Sonny boy."

"I just said don't…"

"You call me sweetheart," she interrupted, "and I call you Sonny boy."

"Fine, brat."

"Great, asshole."

"Well," Sonny laughed as he slide back into the seat hoping the fear that had captured him while she was hanging out of the car door wasn't present on his face, "looks like you got your greatness back."

"Yeah, I guess," Emily grinned shakily as she answered him. "But I'm still a little worried."

"You want me to call Lucky or Jason…" Sonny trailed off and started to reach for his phone before she could answer.

"No," she answered quickly, too quickly. "It's just, I didn't want them to know this, but I'm sort of relieved they couldn't come."

"Why?"

"They don't know her."

"Who," Sonny asked suspiciously. There was no way she was gonna spring another player on him this late in the game. Was she?

"Corey. Me. They know little Emily Quartermaine, and yeah, she can be capable too, but she was never cold. Never calculating. She could never hurt anyone."

"That's not…"

"No," she interrupted. "You need to listen. I should have warned you before. I know you think you get it, but Sonny you don't. The difference between Emily and Joey isn't just tighter jeans, a shorter shirt, and dirtier words."

"I know," he nodded at each point she made.

"No, you don't," Emily disagreed adamantly trying to get him to see the seriousness of the situation. There was only one choice left. She swallowed her fear, reached behind her, and pulled out the sleek nine-millimeter handgun that had been resting in her waistband.

"What the hell are you doing with that," Sonny asked as he reached to take it away.

"We're about to walk into a room with a bunch of mobsters, some who want me dead, and the only person who didn't assume I would have a gun is the person who is supposed to have my back. Do you see a problem with this situation?"

"Well…yes."

"That's good," Emily laughed and shook her head. "Marco let's get going."

"So…" Sonny started, trying to introduce the subject carefully. "Are you going to tell me all of the things you've done to get the reputation you have?"

"Later."

He saw the glint in her eyes and nearly laughed out loud, she had been dropping things on him left and right since that first day and it was starting to drive him nuts. "You're actually trying to kill me, aren't you?"

"No, actually, but it might be a nice side affect."

Sonny grinned outwardly, but winced inwardly. She had such a hard time trusting people and it wasn't making the situation they were all in any easier. He knew he'd been hard on her before, but if she would just spill all the truth out at once they wouldn't be having nearly as much trouble as they were. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and wondered, why; exactly she just couldn't trust people. _Funny coming from you_, he thought and briefly considered not raising the subject to her at all. After sitting in silence for a few moments longer he changed his mind.

"You don't give us enough credit."

"What?"

"Me, Jason, Lucky…everyone. You always think someone isn't going to understand or will hate you or something."

"Well," she answered slowly as if he were a child. "No offense Sonny, but you are kind of the mobster who cried betrayal."

"Cute." He was annoyed now, she could see it in his eyes and it made her briefly—very briefly—regret her snide comment, but before she had enough time to truly let is sink in he answered her back with just as much spite as she had thrown his way. "What about Jason? Lucky? Why not let them in on who you are or who Joey is or who Emily is? Huh?"

"I can't," she answer him quietly, for the first time afraid that she wasn't in control of a conversation.

"Why?"

"Can we please, please do this later?"

He heard the plea in her voice and wanted very badly to deny her and push forward, but the idea was suspended as soon as he turned to look into her whiskey-tinted eyes. She was scared, probably about the meeting, probably about him, and probably about a lot more things, but now wasn't the time to address them.

"Fine. But we're gonna have this out later. No half-assed explaining things."

"Yeah, I know," she answer resigned to the fact that she needed to begin to really trust someone and it was going to have to be him, at least for now.

"Good, because…"

"Sir," Marco interrupted from the front seat. "We're here."

Sonny nodded and then looked to Emily, "You ready?'

"Yup. Let's get this party started."

* * *

"Oh my god, I cannot be the only person in this room who thinks that Sonny's sudden need to enter into the drug business is a little suspect. Right?" Faith turned and looked at the rest of the people sitting at the table with her. She and Jax had gotten to the No Name a couple of minutes before the princess and Mr. I-Own-Everything Corinthos. About twenty minutes after the royal couple's arrival business started, and here they were.

"It's not new Faith, I've been building this part of my empire up for months now. I'm just asking to come out of the shadows," Sonny sat back in his seat and laughed inwardly, he knew that most of the men here would take his side over hers any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Business was good.

"Why now?"

"Because more and more drugs are moving into my territories and being sold to kids. I don't like that, but I do realize that there is profit in this business, so I'm just proposing a deal."

"Hmmm…" Nikolai interrupted from his seat at the other end of the table. "Democracy at work, I love it."

"It won't cut into your profit," Faith answered.

"A compromise then," Nikolai suggested.

"Fine. What do I get?"

"How about half of the trade in Sorel's territory…"

"Wait a second," Emily interrupted Nikolai's proposal. "I'm sorry. Since when do you have control over trade in Sorel's territory?" Emily asked, as she stared at the faces in the room to see if any of them were as surprised as she was.

Demetri Valencia, who sat at the head of the table, seemed to be, as did his lieutenant, Dante Verdicof, who sat at his right hand. Faith and Jax were next to Dante and both of them seem duly surprised, however the next person in line Danny Marciano didn't seem at all staggered. And Emily couldn't read Lorenzo Alcazar's expression yet, but she assumed that he didn't know anything since he hadn't been in town long. She nearly immediately counted out Vito Corelli, because he didn't like either Nikolai or Sorel, and mumbled under his breathe about having them sit on the other side of him. Tony Marciano, who sat to Emily's left, would have warned her and all that was left after that, other than everyone's guards, was Sonny. So the only people, as she figured, who knew about this little deal were Sorel, Nikolai, and Danny. Not good.

"Since yesterday," Sorel began as he looked around the table, "I've stepped down as the head of my territory and become Mr. Nikolai's lieutenant."

"Why would you do that?'

"I'm sorry Ms. Quartermaine," Nikolai answered, using her real name and not Wilson to try and shake her, before Sorel could open his mouth. "You do not get to ask that question."

"I think she does." Most everyone at the table whipped around when they realized that Lorenzo Alcazar was finally speaking. "I mean no offense to anyone here, but there seems to be some under the table deals going on."

"We're mobsters," Sorel quipped and sunk back into his chair when no one laughed.

"You know what he means. What's going on here?" Dante asked the question that was on everyone's mind, with ease.

"A simple business deal. Joseph came to me last night with the offer. I accepted. No more, no less."

"What offer," Faith asked suspiciously, there was no way she was giving up what little territory she had left.

"He wanted less responsibility and I had been looking to invest her on the Eastern Seaboard."

"Why? There isn't exactly room to grow around here. Sonny hordes most of the territory and I'm not letting what little I have left pass to you."

"For once," Sonny spoke up, "I agree with Faith."

"Lord help us all!"

"Bitch," Faith nearly jumped out of her chair at Emily, but Jax held her back.

"Oh, bring out the nails. Blondie."

"Ladies," Tony laughed from his seat beside Emily, "while I'm sure we'd all love to see you two go at it, can we get back to business please?"

"I'm not looking to take over, which is why I offered half of my drug trade from Sorel's territory to Faith. I just need a safe place for the shipments I have coming into the states and I'm sick of shipping them cross-country to get them here. In the name of compromise I'll even agree not the sell my product in Port Charles, and in Sonny's other outside territories, not to children." After Nikolai finished his little speech Emily wanted to laugh, it was diplomatic, yeah, too diplomatic. He had something up his sleeve and she was gonna find out what, but first…

"That sounds good to me," Vito said from his seat at the head of the table. "Sonny?"

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Emily and realized she was probably thinking the same thing he was—too easy. "Yeah, I agree."

"Faith?"

"Fine."

"Anyone else have a problem with this," Vito asked only as a courtesy and everyone at the table saw his green eyes darken signaling the end of the conversation. "Good. Let's move on."

"Two of my men were killed last night in Nevada," Danny Marciano said as he leaned forward in his chair.

"Okay, would you like someone to hold your hand and cry with you," Emily joked, confused as to why this was important.

"No, I want safe passage for my men."

"This has been handled already," Vito responded, annoyed. "Tony has promised not to move on your men as long as they are good little boys."

"Then why are two of them dead?"

"Because," Tony looked to Vito to be sure he could respond and continued on at the subtle nod from the older man, "they attacked the nineteen year old niece of one of my men."

"Liar!"

"There's a police report to prove it, if you want to see."

"You own them," Danny laughed humorlessly as he sat back in his chair.

"Well I don't know what to tell you then. Move out of Nevada."

"You son of a…"

"Gentlemen," Vito interrupted as he stared at Danny, letting him know that his comments were less about Tony and more about him. "We're going to take a break now."

"But…" Danny began to say something, but saw the look in they eyes of the others sitting at the table and realized that no one would have his back if he argued the point now. "Fine"

Emily watched as Tony walked out of the restaurant and turned to Sonny, "I'm gonna go talk to him, okay?"

"Yeah, but stay close to the door though."

"Alright." Emily got up to leave and Sonny sat back in his chair and watched her as she made her way to the door, hoping no one would stop her. They didn't. He grinned when she reached the door and turned around blowing a kiss to him. Clever girl. Wouldn't want anyone thinking that she was having something on the side with Tony Marciano.

"She's amazing to watch," Sonny nearly grunted as her heard Jax's downy voice in his ear.

"What?"

"While she's working," Jax grinned as Sonny clinched his jaw tighter. "She just sat there all stone faced and cool. I wonder what her family would say."

"You gonna tell on her? Isn't that a little too kindergarten of you? Michael doesn't even do that anymore."

"Oh no, I enjoy watching her work to much to risk it."

"Yeah," Sonny responded with false cheer coating his voice, "and you'd have to dirty up your clean name to explain how you got your information."

"That too," Jax grinned.

* * *

"Rough day," Emily asked as she walked up behind Tony.

"Sort of."

"Tell me."

"They, uh, they faxed me a picture of the girl. I wanted to be sure, you know, that it was gonna be worth it."

"And?"

Tony turned to his right and looked at her before scrubbing his hands over his face and responding, "She had a broken arm, two broken ribs, bruises all over the right side of her face, her left eye was swollen shut. They beat the shit out of her Jo."

"Was she…" Emily stopped she didn't know what to say, how to ask the question.

"Raped," he supplied. "No, thank God. She fought back. When my men got a hold of the guys one had a broken knee cap and the other had a knife wound on his inner thought—no cut in the pants."

Emily bowed her head slowly at the last part; it took her a second to understand. There was no tear in the pants because he didn't have them him when she cut him. Bastard.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

Tony looked up and smiled ironically a the sky before he answered, "Yeah, I talked to her. She apologized for taking me away from business. She—God Core, I was at her birthday party last month, she danced with me and smiled and laughed. I told her I wanted Zoe to be just like her, and now I just keep thinking…"

"Don't," she interrupted and pulled his face around so that he was staring her in the eyes. "Don't do that. You'll tear yourself apart with worry."

"Yeah, I know. I just keep coming back to Danny though. Did he—could he actually order an attack like that on a little girl?"

"I want to say no, really I do, but…"

"Yeah," he answered, resigned. "But."

"I don't know Tony, he's go no honor."

"Honor," he laughed humorlessly. "How can any of us claim to be honorable? We kill people. We lie, cheat, steal—whatever it takes."

"Not whatever it takes. We draw lines."

"My dad did whatever it took—was he honorable?"

"You know he was," she answered with a little anger rising up in her throat. She'd met his father, talked with him, laughed with him…respected him. "In this business—this world—we live by tough rules. I know it's hard sometimes to look in the mirror, but come on Tony, you know you're a good guy. You know your dad was a good guy."

"Only if we're grading on a curve."

"I am."

"Good," he laughed as a small weight was lifted. She was right. She had to be. "So…what about Zoe?"

"What about her?"

"How do I keep her away from this?"

"Honestly?" Emily kicked the curb in front of her as she tried to reach for a plausible answer to his question. Was it possible? To keep someone out of a business they were born into, they were born to be in? "I don't know. You don't, I guess. You hope and pray, but you can't control her. I bet there's no way my father would have wanted this for me, but, right now, it's who I am." She was trying, really trying, to find the answer to his question. To her own questions. And then it hit her… "Oh my gosh, Tony, what are we talking about? You have more important things to worry about where Zoe is concerned."

"Like what?"

"Boys!"

"Euw."

"Seriously. They'll be knocking down the door soon."

"And I'll be knocking heads."

"No you won't," she laughed and hugged him.

"No. I won't, but I'll want to," he smiled and hugged her back. "Hey, speaking of families—I hear you've got one.

"That I do. Have you ever met Jason?"

"Yeah, a few times. He's…a good guy. Sonny too."

"Hmm." He nearly busted out laughing as her skin toned changed into interesting shades of red.

"No comment?"

"Not today, I got business on the brain. How long are you here for?"

"Couple days, but if I have to I'll call Mari to prod the information out of you. You know after you left she wanted to find some guys to set you up with. Who would you rather deal with, me or her?"

"We'll talk."

"Yeah. Core—hey! What the hell do I call you now?"

"Oh man," Emily laughed as she actually thought about that for the first time. "Who knows."

"We'll see," Tony said and paused for a second, thinking. "You should go back in; your man is probably missing you."

"Or killing Jax."

"Or that. Let's go."

* * *

"How did Emily convince you into letting her keep her night job?"

"Funny," Emily said as she walked up to Sonny's side and grabbed onto his hand. "I was just about to ask the same thing of Faith. Must be a real special occasion if she's letting you out of the bedroom."

"Speaking of bedrooms…"

"You really don't want to go there, trust me." Sonny thought if he spent any more time with Jax then he was going to grind his teeth into dust.

Emily grinned as she wrapped her arms around Sonny's waist and slipped her thumb into one of his belt loops in an effort to hold him back. "He's so protective."

"I see," Jax laughed as he ignored Sonny's glare and concentrated on Emily. "Do you really need protecting?"

"Me? Naw. If I wanted to I could kick your ass myself, but really, it's sort of below me. You understand."

"How would you know what I'm worth if you haven't tried me?"

"Hmmm…good point, but I've gotta tell you. I've got all I need right here—and then some."

"I guess Faith can't say the same thing," Sonny said, grinning as he looked over Jax's shoulder.

Emily followed his eye line and an amused looked formed on her usually stoic face. "Whoa, she's practically sitting in Lorenzo Alcazar's lap. Oh wait," Emily watched as Alcazar got up and walked away. "Guess he wasn't interested."

"Afraid he might catch something," Sonny added.

"Probably," Emily agreed.

The three of them watched as Faith stomped across the room until she realized she was being watched and walked more carefully.

"Hey, sweetheart," she grinned almost manically and then, in Emily's opinion, shoved her tongue down Jax's throat.

"Hey pumpkin."

_Pumpkin?_ Emily and Sonny looked at each other and both nearly lost their dinners. Pumpkin? Gross.

"Oh I'm sorry," Faith smiled as she turned and looked at Emily. "I didn't see you there at first; you just blend right in with the guys."

"And you stick out. If I were you I'd tone it down a bit, you keep standing out like that and it'll be real easy to shoot you in a crowd."

"Was that a threat?"

"Nope. Just a suggestion, I wouldn't stoop to the level of taking a contract on you. It'd be an insult to my talent."

"Looks like we're sitting back down," Sonny laughed as he pulled Emily along behind him and they made their way back to the negotiating table. "Nice job."

"You like that?"

"Oh yeah, especially the part where you insulted Candyboy's manhood, or lack there of."

"Yeah, I liked that too. We should do this more often. It's a real mood booster."

Tony looked at Emily and Sonny as they walked back to the table and sat down, "You two don't look like you've been playing well with others."

"No?" Emily cocked her head to the side and pretended to think for a second. "Well, we were both only children when we were younger guess we never learned that one."

"Or to share," Sonny responded as he looked across the table at Jax and took Emily's hand below it.

A shiver shot up her arm and she wasn't sure exactly how to react to it. She looked over at Sonny confused, but he was concentrating on Jax. Why was he being so overprotective, she knew that he was supposed to be playing the role of devoted boyfriend, but holding her hand below the table was above and beyond. She wanted to think it through, but before she even had the chance…

"Well ladies and gentlemen," Vito Corelli said from the head of the table. "Let's get back to business."

* * *

"Oh man, I don't think I've ever spent that long sitting before in my life," Emily complained while she half walked half leaned on Sonny as they left the No Name. They'd just spent nearly five hours pounding out deals concerning what drugs could and couldn't be sold and where it would happen and who they could be sold to. Sonny's only real stipulations had been that he didn't want drugs in Port Charles and he didn't want them sold to young people in any of his territories. But, thanks to Faith, they'd spent a half-hour arguing over what young was. No one under twenty-one, had been Emily's suggestion, by the end of the night that had been knocked down to eighteen and Emily was feeling the weight of her decision bearing on her shoulders. Before now she hadn't thought too much about the fact that Sonny was actually going to have to cultivate this business, at least until they were done with their jobs and probably longer so that the men (what was left of them) from the meeting that night and the five families didn't think he had lied to them. It could actually end up taking years for him to fully pull out.

"What's going on in that head of yours," Sonny whispered in her ear as they stood outside waiting for the car to come around.

"You don't like drugs."

"No. I don't."

"I'm sorry."

"Hey," he mimicked her actions from earlier in the night, with Tony and pulled her head around so she was staring in her eyes, only this time she could feel him looking through her and her gut clinched. "Don't worry about it. I'm not."

"Yeah, but you are. This really bothers you."

"It bothers you too."

"Yeah."

"Listen we'll worry about it later, I'm sure after all of this is done we'll both be spending some time in confession anyway. Just save it for that."

"Forgive me father for I have sinned?"

"Exactly."

"Yeah," Emily yawned and rested her head on Sonny's shoulder.

"What the hell is taking so long," Tony came up on the other side of Sonny and peered out into the night. "The cars should have been here as soon as we came out. I'm tired as hell."

"I feel your pain," Emily laughed at his impatience. The man was down right whiny when he didn't get to bed on time. "Like a toddler."

"What?" Both Tony and Sonny simultaneously turned to look at Emily.

"I said that out loud."

"Yes you did," Sonny laughed at the utterly surprised look on Emily's face.

"Brat," Tony grunted, less amused.

"Finally, someone who agrees with me."

"You can both kiss my lily white ass," Emily said as she stepped away from Sonny and looked down the street, she nearly jumped for joy when she saw all of the cars coming in their direction. "Finally."

Emily stepped around to the other side of Sonny, near Tony, so that she could see the line of cars better. She squinted out into the darkness trying to discern where the vehicle that was going to be taking her home was. _Ten cars_, she thought as she silently counted in her head. Why were there ten? Her and Sonny, one. Tony, two. Faith and Jax, three. Dante and Demetri, four. Vito, five. Sorel, six. Nikolai, seven. Danny, eight. Alcazar, nine. Who was ten? Who was…

"Down," Emily heard someone yell from behind her and before any other thoughts could form in her head she whipped around to see where Sonny was. She shivered as their eyes met and she saw the fear shinning out at her. He was scared. Sonny Corinthos was scared. Not good. Just as she started to lower herself to the ground she saw the lamp post above Tony's head shatter into pieces. She looked over his should and saw Danny standing by the door. Standing? He wasn't worried. Why wasn't he…

"Tony!" Sonny looked up as Emily screamed and his heart lurched in his chest. She wasn't dropping, she was running. Where was she going? Tony. Tony was the target and Emily was running toward him. He pushed off whoever was pulling him to the ground and started to move in her direction, but before he even made it up he saw her step in front of Tony and a burst of blood spatter onto the front of his shirt.

Her blood. Emily's blood. Emily was bleeding. Emily was shot.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

Elizabeth Webber grinned inwardly as she felt a hand slowly climb up her arm and settle on the back of her neck. She'd been asleep for the past few hours and decided that having her fiancé—soon to be husband—kiss her was definitely the way she wanted to wake up for the next fifty or sixty years.

"Good morning gorgeous," he said as his hand slid from her neck, down her back, and she settled into his embrace. After a few minutes she opened her eyes and turned her head to see the time on his watch.

"Noon is hardly morning. Why didn't you wake me up when you got up?"

"No point, we've still got and hour before we land in Port Charles and you looked so sweet."

"So why'd you wake me up?"

"Well," Ric laughed as he leaned over a little more and whispered in her ear, "you looked a too sweet. I decided I wanted a little taste."

"Pervert"

"Damn right."

"An hour huh?"

"Yes," he answered and then burrowed his head into her neck and began kissing there.

"Ric. Ric," she laughed and pulled away. "As much fun as this is, we need to talk."

"I disagree."

"Figures," she allowed him to continue on his previous path for a few more minutes before pulling away again. "Seriously. Stop it. We need to talk."

"Fine. Talk."

"It's about Sonny," she cautiously broached the subject; the last time she tried this he cut her off immediately.

"Okay."

"If he's dangerous…"

"If," he interrupted. "Liz he pushed his pregnant mother down the stairs; he was a child when he did this. Now, he's a mobster. He kills and threatens people for a living. He's dangerous."

"No. I agree. That's not what I meant. It's just that, I'm not sure I want us in Port Charles if he's gonna be a threat to our future."

"More like I'm going to be a threat to his," he answered.

"That's what I mean. Getting appointed the new DA after Scott was fired is one thing, but going after Sonny right away. It's dangerous. What if he finds out you're his brother? Worse than that, what if he doesn't care and kills you, for trying to put him in jail, anyway. What then?"

"Never happen."

"Oh, yeah, I just bet you're the first person to say that where Sonny Corinthos is concerned."

"Hey," he tried to calm himself as her pulled her into his lap. _Why couldn't she understand that he had to do this? Sonny Corinthos ruined his life, took away his mother, and took away any chance he'd had at a normal childhood, just because he was too selfish to share. _"Listen I promise you that if I think he is going to try and come after me I will back off."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Alright," she settled into his lap again, a little calmer and started to think about what it would be like to be back in Port Charles. The place held good memories, but the bad ones were clouding over in her mind and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stand them.

"What are you thinking about now?"

"I just," she struggled with the words for a moment before finally settling on an approach. "I just don't get how Emily could have ended up with Sonny. I mean she was a good person; the girl I knew never would have ended up in that world."

"With Jason, she was already half in it," he answered. He knew Liz had, had a relationship—of some kind—with Jason Morgan at some point and wondered if she still held those feelings.

"Yeah, I guess. Truthfully, I always thought she'd grow up and get over that a little. But hero worshiping her big brother and working for and having relationships with mobsters are two very different things."

"Is it? You dated Jason is he really that different from Sonny?"

"That was very smooth sweetheart," Liz smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "No. I don't have any feelings for Jason Morgan anymore. And, no, I guess it isn't that different."

"Well I've told you what I know about how she got involved with Sonny. That night you guys went to the rave she was drugged and ended up loosing her memory. No too long ago she ran into Sonny and now they're together. Maybe she doesn't realize what he's capable of."

"Yeah, but you said that she was still doing freelance work for the mob, even now, right?"

"Yes, that's what my sources found."

"So then she isn't the girl I knew and I guess Lucky isn't the boy I knew either."

"And Nikolas," he asked quietly. If he was touchy on the subject of his brother then Elizabeth was just as touchy on the subject of her ex-husband.

"He definitely isn't the same," she answered pensively. "I guess none of us are. I don't hate him you know."

"I know," he nodded and held her a little closer.

"I never did. I never really loved him either—or was in love with him would be better to say, but I was young and he was young and we thought we could make it work. Now, every time I see him I think of what I lost. When I look into his eyes I see Helena and I just can't take that. She killed my unborn child and she did it on purpose—just because it wasn't a boy. I just couldn't live in that family anymore. And Nikolas, he still loves her, somewhere deep down inside he still cares for that woman after she caused his child's death."

"I know." He put his chin on her head and closed his eyes. He remembered the miscarriage; he was in Greece on business for his father when he met Elizabeth. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and she was the wife of the man he was trying to close a deal with—off limits, he'd told himself so many times, but still he stared at her during the dinners leading up to the deal actually being hammered out. And when it was, he told his father he was taking a vacation and asked Stefan Cassadine if he could spend more time on the compound. He didn't mention that he was staying because he was falling for his nephew's pregnant wife.

Late one night he'd heard yelling in the halls and left his room to see what happened, when he got to the main foyer he saw her clutching her stomach and praying as Nikolas heaved her into his arms and rushed her to the doctor. Two days later he'd found out that she miscarried after Helena shoved her down a flight of stairs and the memories of his childhood began to flood back. A few days later he ran into her on the beach and they began talking, a month after that she was planning a divorce, while he was planning to ruin Sonny Corinthos. And here they were.

"Maybe you shouldn't come."

"What? Why?"

"He's dangerous. He's capable of doing the same thing that Helena did. And he could you use to come after me, I won't allow that."

"Neither will I. Listen, I'm coming with you and you are going to put Sonny in jail and then we are going home and getting married. Okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

"How is she," Jason asked as he pushed through the doors of the doctor's office that they kept in case of emergencies.

"Fine, I guess, the bullet went through her shoulder and didn't hit any bones. The doctor says she'll heal. She, uh, she lost a lot of blood. The doctor said that was going be the worst thing," Sonny leaned forward and wiped his hands over his face before asking, "Where's Lucky?"

"He had to stay at the docks; the shipment came in, but with a dead body. We don't know who it is yet. How much blood did she loose?"

"Not one of ours?" Sonny asked, hoping to distract Jason so he didn't worry about just how much blood was left in the back of car they took to the doctors.

"No…"

"Well," Lorenzo Alcazar said from his seat on the other side of the room. Jason hadn't noticed him in the corner when he first walked in. "It looks like someone took this meeting tonight as an opportunity to make themselves known."

Jason agreed, but didn't dare say it out loud; instead he turned to Sonny and asked, "What is he doing here?"

"We had to take his car."

Jason nodded and was about to say something else when his phone rang. Lorenzo watched him from across the room as he thought about coming into the doctors office when Emily in the back of his limo bleeding in his arms.

_He couldn't remember pulling off his jacket or placing it over her gunshot wound, couldn't remember hauling her into the car and hearing Sonny give the driver instructions to, _"Move now!" _But he did remember her settling in his arms as the blood spread across his hands, even through the thick material. _

_Emily looked up into Lorenzo Alcazar's eyes and smiled slowly at the worry that she saw shimmering in them, "You smell good." She wanted to laugh when he looked down at her, confused, but the pain radiating through her shoulder caught hold and caused her to grunt instead._

"_Thank you," he answered. He looked down at her surprised that she was still conscious. Her lips were purple and the tint that had been in her skin faded into a sickly yellow color that caused his stomach to churn from worry. There was a light sheen covering all of her body, that he could see, and one shoulder of her shirt was covered in blood._

"_Welcome," she smiled and then listened as Sonny yelled at the driver to move faster, because he didn't care if they were stopped on the way. "He's protective."_

"_I see," Lorenzo looked to the front of the car at Sonny who was continuously running his hands over his face and looking back at them every chance he got._

"_I'm gonna tell you a secret, okay?" _

"_Okay," he answered, stunned, as he looked back to her. _

"_I kinda like him. He can be really sweet when he wants—and protective of the people he loves—also, he's really cute. No, no cute isn't the right word, cute is for frat guys, Sonny is…Sonny is…sexy. Yep, totally sexy. Don't you see it? Oh, no, I guess you wouldn't." He listened as she rambled on and on her voice becoming a fraction of what it had been earlier in the night._

"_No."_

"_Okay, well I'm gonna tell you another secret. My shoulder," she whispered as she licked her dry lips, "it doesn't hurt quite so bad now. That's good, right?"_

_Lorenzo studied her face and his heart clutched in his chest, he didn't think that she have been able to get more pale then she had been a few minutes before; he was wrong. There was a cold sweat dripping down her face and her eyes were opening and closing as if she didn't have the energy for the simple task of being able to look up at him. He pulled her further into his arms and wrapped himself around her, trying, hoping to keep her warm. "We need to be there. Now!" He caught Sonny's eyes and held them as they both realized that the problem they were dealing with was no longer just a bullet wound—the bleeding wasn't stopping. _

"_Hey, where's Tony?"_

"_You told him to leave when we were still at the No Name," he answered as he wiped the sweat off her brown and pushed her hair from her face._

"_Good. Good. He's okay right, no bullet holes?"_

"_He's fine."_

"_Oh God," she grunted and lifted up off of him a little. _

"_What?"_

"_Jason," she lied. The pain, for a moment, had gone back to its previous intensity. "He's gonna be so made at me that I got shot. I don't know what I'm gonna tell him."_

_He looked down at her confused about how she could possibly go from biting back the pain in her shoulder, to worrying about the person she took a bullet for, to complaining about her brother being angry that she got shot. Who was this girl? Emily Quartermaine, Corey Wilson, both, or neither. And why did she remind him so much of a different time and a different place? "He'll live."_

"That was Lucky, he called Gia to see how everyone was doing." Jason words pulled Lorenzo out of his memories and into the present.

"How are they," Sonny asked as he looked up from the floor he had been staring at for the last five minutes.

"Fine, but Bella saw the new report about the shooting before Bren or Gia could get to her, there was nothing about Emily—I guess they don't realize who she is yet—but they talked about you. She's worried your hurt and they can't get her calm."

"Shit," Sonny repeated the action he'd been doing most of the night and rubbed his hand down his face in frustration.

"Maybe you should go to see her; I'll stay with Emily and call if anything happens."

"Yeah, okay," Sonny agreed reluctantly as he took one last look at the double doors he'd seen Emily rushed through earlier.

While Jason and Sonny were talking Lorenzo slipped away for a second, pulled out his cell phone and dialed a familiar number.

"_Damien," _the voice on the other end answered.

"It's Lorenzo. I need you to dig a little deeper on Emily Quartermaine, there's something about her that seems off."

"_Yes sir,"_ the voice on the other end hesitated, but agreed. _"Are you okay?"_

"Fine."

"_And the girl?"_

"She'll be okay," Lorenzo ended the conversation on that note, by just hanging up before the person on the other end had the chance to ask anymore questions.

"Why are you still here?" He turned around to see Jason Morgan sitting in the seat that Sonny had recently vacated.

"Excuse me?"

"Why are you still here," Jason repeated himself, he didn't find it necessary to explain his reason for wanting an answer to the question. He just did.

"Because I held her in my arms while she bled, because she looked up at me and talked to me and as we got closer her voice got smaller and smaller, because she stepped in front of a bullet with no worry about what would happen to her," Lorenzo looked Jason in the eye—something people rarely did—as he responded. "And because I think I might just happen to like her. Is that okay with you?"

"Fine," Jason answered and went back to staring out in front of him and he inwardly grinned. Emily did have a way of making people give a damn about her, even when they probably shouldn't.

* * *

"Hey, Johnny," Sonny stopped before he walked into the door of his penthouse. "Go across the hall and get my sister, bring her over here."

"Yes, sir." Johnny left and Sonny stepped into the penthouse, as soon as he closed the doors he could feel the weight of the past few days coming down on his shoulders. He walked over to the table that sat in the middle of the room and began to pour himself a drink, but as he lifted it to his mouth he stopped. That was a bad idea with Bella coming over to see him. He turned his head as the door opened and the little girl slowly walked in—Johnny practically shoving her—with her head down.

"Hey." Bella looked up at him shyly as he greeted her. "You wanna come over and sit with me?"

He didn't wait for her answer, just walked over to the couch and sat back on it hoping she would join him. She nodded her head at his back and walked over to the couch; after he sat down she hopped up beside him and sat back. Once she was settled she looked up at him from behind her long lashes and waited to see what he would do next.

"So I heard you were a little worried about me."

Bella shook her head vehemently, "I saw on the news that you could be hurt. I was worried."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

"Well I'm sorry you had to see that. Hey," he bent her chin up so that she was staring into his face, "I'm okay and I'm gonna stay that way."

"Okay," she whispered as a silent tear slid down her face.

"You wanna tell me what else you are worried about?" He reached over and used the knuckle of his middle finger to wipe the tear off her face before it reached the corner of her mouth.

"Well," Bella's brow scrunched up slowly as she thought carefully about whether or not she was supposed to be asking questions, "didn't Em go with you to your uh…work? Did she get hurt?"

Sonny looked at her not quite sure how he was supposed to answer, he wanted to tell her the truth, but he wasn't sure that was the best way to go.

"Your gonna lie aren't you?"

"What," he asked, surprised at her question.

"Adults. You guys always lie when you're quiet like that."

"Do we now?"

"Uh huh."

"Well," Sonny laughed quietly at her interpretation of the situation. "If I told you the truth would you believe me?"

"I think so."

"Good," he reached across to her and pulled her closer. "Come on over here and I'll tell you."

She got comfortable next to him and waited for him to tell her whatever he was going to say. The truth, she hoped.

"Yes, Emily did get hurt. It was her shoulder, right here," he pointed to the spot on Bella shoulder where Emily took the shot and an irrational fear speared through his chest as he imagined Bella with a similar wound twenty years down the road.

"Did somebody hit her," she asked her eyes wider and browner than he'd seen them before.

"Not with their hands. No."

"With what," she asked not sure what else someone could use to make her have to go to the hospital.

"You know what a gun is?"

Bella squinted at him, annoyed; she'd thought that Emily had been hit—not shot. "I'm not a baby. I've seen them on TV. Somebody shot her?"

"Yes," he answered and as an afterthought asked, "How much television do you watch?"

"Not too much," she answered thoughtfully as she twirled her finger around her hair. "My mommy says, said, only two shows a day. One half hour news, only if it has world stuff, and one other show. On the weekends we go to the movies."

"You watch world news?" He didn't even watch that much news.

"Uh huh. Mommies friend Sweeny—he moved to uh, California, I think—he said that kids should know what's going on in the world and not just that shit our schools feed us."

"Don't say shit," the words flew out of his mouth before he knew what he was saying and when he saw her wince at her slip he winced too, since when did he monitor children's use of language?

"Sorry. I forget sometimes."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it, just don't do it too much."

"Why did somebody shoot Emily," she asked after a minute of silence. "Was she mean to them?"

"No baby they were mean and she was trying to protect someone else."

"Oh," she looked down again and started playing with her fingers. "My mom tried to protect me when the bad guy came, but she couldn't."

"The bad men? What happened with the bad men?"

"Man. Only one," she corrected. "Mom told me to hide in the closet, but I slipped on my skates—she was teaching me. He heard me fall and opened the door. He pulled my hair really hard and I kicked him like mom taught me, but I wasn't wearing any shoes so it didn't hurt him. Them my mom told him she'd help him and he let go."

"What happened next?"

"He left and mom packed a bunch of stuff. She told me we had to go, because she wasn't no damn—sorry—rat."

"That's okay baby," he realized at the moment that at some point he'd pulled her all the way into his lap and was holding her close as she mater-of-factly told her story. "Can you tell me when this happened?"

"It was before the accident. Sonny? Did he kill my mom?"

"I don't know kiddo, but I promise to find out. How was your night with Michael and the girls?" Sonny saw the tears forming in her eyes and asked the question in an effort to keep them from falling. He didn't think he'd be able to stand it.

"Fun," Bella answered as she instantly perked up. Mission accomplished. "Gia and Brenda told me we could go on a girls shopping day with Emily—How long will she be in the hospital for?"

"No too long, don't worry."

"Okay. Oh," her little face lit up. "And Mikey let me play with his game."

"And he let you call him Mikey," Sonny asked, surprised. The boy usually complained when anyone called him anything other than Michael. He was too big for kid stuff now that he was nine.

"Uh huh. He said for me not to or he'd hit me, but I told him boys weren't allowed to hit girls and he agreed. Then we figured out that I could call him Mikey if I want, but he can call me Izzy. I don't like that name, but fair is fair."

"Okay." Sonny shook his head as she quickly explained the exchange between the two children.

Both Sonny and Bella's heads whipped up as the door to the penthouse was opened and their racing pulse simultaneously calmed when Brenda walked through the door.

"Sorry to interrupt guys," Brenda smiled as she walked through the doors and noticed Bella settled comfortably into Sonny's lap, "but Gia has some midnight milkshakes going at my place. Since it seems like we don't be getting much sleep tonight—and there is no school—I thought you might be interested."

"Are we?" Bella looked up at Sonny pleadingly.

"You can go ahead baby, I'm gonna talk to Brenda and then go back to check on Emily."

"Okay. Give her this for me," she reached up to him and gave him two kisses on his cheek and then pulled away, "and take on for you too."

"Sure," he answered, dumbfounded and watched her prance out of the penthouse holding Johnny's—who had come in during the exchange—hand.

"Oh God," Brenda nearly doubled over with laughter. "That girl already has you wrapped around her fingers."

"Yeah?"

"Yup. Don't worry though, she's got Michael and Johnny too, and Luck and Jase aren't far behind."

"She told me about being able to call Michael, Mikey."

"Poor kid," she sympathized. "He had no idea what hit him. He's got his daddy and Uncle Sonny's strengths, but he's got their weaknesses too and a pretty girl with big eyes and a sad past just tugged on his cute little heartstrings. She's got a life long protector in that boy."

"Yeah, well, I think he's got a life long pain in the ass—slash—protector in that girl."

"That's usually the way it works," Brenda stood silently waiting for a chance to ask the question she really wanted to answer to. "How's Emily? Really."

"Physically?" He didn't even look up to see if that's what she wanted, just kept right on talking, "She'll be fine, she'll have to be careful with her shoulder for a while, but she'll live. Mentally, who knows, she's not awake yet and even when she is…"

"Who knows," Brenda finished.

"Exactly. I think she'll be fine though. Jason on the other hand…"

"Oh man, I can imagine. He paces, he sits, he paces, he sits and then he repeats until you wanna kill him. No patience."

"Still with you isn't he?"

Brenda laughed at and agreed with his response.

"That's a while different kind of patience," she joked and then seriously added—her voice cracking a little, "Sonny, go make him come home. He'll sit with her all night till he drives himself crazy with the _what ifs_. Just tell him to come home and rest, he'll listen to you."

"Yeah," he agreed and then got up from his seat on the couch and walked toward her and the door. "Come on, I'll walk you across the hall on my way out."

"In case I get lost?"

"Cute."

They opened the door and walked out, but both of them stopped as the elevator dinged next to them and Lucky stepped out.

"Hey," he looked to Sonny. "Hey," he looked to Brenda. "What are you two kids doing up this late on a weeknight?"

"Hi," Brenda answered back ignoring his comment. "Are you coming over to see Gia?"

"Was, but something came up. Don't tell her I was here okay, it'll piss her off."

Brenda laughed. "Okay. Everything alright," she noticed the hesitation in his eyes and waved it off, "Never mind. I got it—business."

"Good girl," Lucky responded, happy he didn't have to tell her.

"Asshole."

"What's up," Sonny looked over to Lucky after Brenda shut the door to her home behind her.

"You going to see Emily," Lucky asked avoiding the question.

"Yeah."

"Good," he shook his head. "I'll tell you on the way."

* * *

Sonny and Lucky simultaneously walked through the doors of the doctor's office, but Lucky stopped when he saw Lorenzo Alcazar sitting in the waiting room.

"Why's he here?"

"He helped," Sonny gave clipped answer.

"So…"

"So shut up," Sonny responded and then turned to Lorenzo. "She awake?"

"Yes," he answered. "I believed Jason is in with her now."

"Good," Sonny started to walk away and then hesitated and turned back. "We've got some information you might want."

"That was his personable way of saying that if you aren't trying to kill any of us and you want the breaking news story you should follow," Lucky went through the double doors after Sonny and Lorenzo followed shaking his head. Everyone in Port Charles, so far, seemed absolutely insane, but then again the only people he'd met so far were mobsters.

"What's up," Jason asked just as Lucky and Alcazar walked through the door.

"The body count," Lucky answered with his own brand of humor.

"Toni," Emily asked as she sat up worry shimmering in her eyes.

"Wrong Marciano," Lucky quipped.

"Somebody killed Danny." Everyone in the room who didn't already know what was going on echoed her words in their thoughts—of course everyone was only Lorenzo and Jason.

"And Vito Corelli and Demetri Valencia."

"Shit."

"Ditto," Lucky echoed Emily's sentiment.

"Do we know…" Jason stopped for a second trying to decide what to ask, "anything?"

"Danny was shot point blank in the head and Vito and Demetri were drugged."

"Geez," Emily was just as confused about Lucky's revelation as everyone else. "When? It hasn't been that long since the meeting."

"Long enough for you to be awake," Jason responded annoyed. She was supposed to be resting.

"I guess right after," Lucky ignored Jason's comment and Emily's accusatory glare—he did not want to be in the middle of that brother-sister argument. "I don't know much, only that Dante found Vito and Demetri; I guess they were talking after the shootout."

"Could he have done it," Alcazar asked voice cold and mind in full business mode.

"No way," Emily responded. "Dante's loyal to a fault. Maybe a traitor in his organization, but Dante would never betray Demetri or even Vito for that matter. He's poised to take over Demetri's organization—he's been practically running it for years—and there were whispers that Vito would combine with him because he didn't want his family involved."

"So he had everything to gain," Alcazar added.

"No," Jason shook his head. "It was all already his—he's patient enough to wait it out both of them were old anyway."

"So who isn't patient?"

"Danny," Sonny answered Alcazar's question with the answer that was on everyone's minds.

"You think Dante could have killed Danny for revenge that quickly," Emily shook her head. She didn't.

"No," Sonny agreed. "It's too soon. I think someone wants us to be standing here having this conversation instead of finding answers."

"We should get Toni to go home, he's gonna have to reorganize anyway."

Jason agreed, "And we're also gonna need to meet with Dante, let him know we didn't kill Vito and Demetri."

"So what about you Mr. Alcazar," Emily look from Jason across the room to the man in question. "Whose side are you on?"

"I didn't have them killed."

"I don't think you did," she responded holding his intense gaze. "I do think there is a war coming and I'm curious as to who you will be siding with."

"I don't want anymore bloodshed than there needs to be."

"Good answer. Not the one to my question."

"It seems to me that, that decision should be clear."

"Diplomatic to the end," Emily responded. She got the idea that he was on their side, but she also got that he was working for himself and if he needed to he'd have no problem handling any situation that arose that could harm his business. "So we've got the people in this room—and Sonny's, maybe Alcazar over there's organization—Danny and maybe Dante. Everyone else is the enemy. Gentlemen I smell a war brewing and I think it's gonna be a big one. Now if you don't mind I need some rest."

Emily turned her head and closed her eyes, signaling—very smoothly—the end of the conversation. And all the men followed her lead by leaving the room.

"Alright, you two go home for the night," Sonny pointed to Jason and Lucky, "there's nothing else we can do right now."

Jason wanted to disagree, but then he felt a hitch in his heart and realized he wanted, more than anything, just to see his son, crawl into his wife's arms, and go to sleep.

"I'll contact Dante," Alcazar offered. "I think, right now, my presence will be seen as a little more neutral than any of yours."

"Okay," Sonny agreed and Alcazar left. "Lucky, I want more information on the Alcazar family. We'll trust him, for now, but not too far, not till we know what we're dealing with."

"Fine, I'll see you tomorrow," Lucky hesitated to see of Jason would follow him, but Jason just waved him out to the car and said: "I'll be there in a second."

"Listen," Sonny started. "I know you wanna stay with Emily and you're her big brother and all, but if someone is watching the clinic it won't look bad for only me to stay we're supposed…"

"No," Jason interrupted. "It's not that. I want to be home. Just, just take care of her okay."

"Okay," Sonny shook his head and after Jason left he went back into Emily's room and walked around to the side of the bed that she was facing. "They're all gone."

Emily blinked one eye open and stared at Sonny, "I was sleeping."

"Uh huh," Sonny noted the hint of fake sleepiness she tried to put in her voice and nearly laughed out loud. "I bet that mind of yours is going a mile a minute."

"I can sleep and think," she pouted prettily.

"Really," he raised an eyebrow. "And I can cook and balance my finances."

"Benny balances your finances."

"You get my point," Sonny answered and moved on. "So what do you think?"

"I think," she answered slowly as she turned her body to see him, but settle further into the bed. "That Nikolai was pulling Danny's strings and after he was done pulling he cut them. Faith, crazy as she is, knows she doesn't have to backing to go after to old-schooler's like Vito and Demetri and she also knows that Dante won't hesitate to kill a woman."

"But," Sonny asked wearily.

"But, I think there's more coming. I'm not sure Nikolai has this much power right now either. I mean, yeah, through your less legitimate businesses he could come after you, but through the coffee business. Would he try?"

"I don't know," Sonny answered thoughtfully, the same thing had crossed his mind. "Jax isn't really the dead body type, but I don't think Nikolai is the mess with the coffee business type. He knows that if he beats me on the, as you put it, less legitimate front then he wins. Why put a dead body on a shipment?"

"Who knows? With that guy it could simply be that he was having a bad day," Emily laughed, more from trying to hold back the yawn in her voice than from actually finding anything funny.

"You should sleep," Sonny grinned as the frown formed on her face. She really was cute when she was avoiding.

"Not tired."

"Well I am," he responded and pulled a chair over to the bed. "So shut up."

"You can't sleep there. You'll be stiff as a board in the morning."

"I told Jason I'd stay with you tonight." He gave an excuse rather than admit to being worried himself.

"Well," Emily looked around the room and Sonny could have sworn he saw a flicker of shyness cross her face. "As long as you promise not to try and molest me I think we can probably share."

"Molest you?" She shook her head as he laughed.

"You know what I mean."

"I do. Yes," Sonny answered with mock seriousness as he got the blanket off the chair that was sitting in the corner and went to the side of the bed that she wasn't taking up. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am. No worries right. We're two grown people who need sleep."

"Exactly."

Emily turned her back to Sonny as he crawled into the bed, pulled the blanket he'd acquired over himself, and laid on his back staring up at the ceiling in the most uncomfortable position imaginable. Neither of them moved for the next half hour and finally Emily turned around to face Sonny.

"If I were to lay my head on your shoulder would you take it as anything other than the way we are both laying is ridiculously uncomfortable?"

"No," he answered. "If I put my arm around your shoulder would you think I was trying to molest you?"

"No," Emily grinned and turned the rest of her body so that she was up against Sonny's and much more comfortable. He put his arm behind her head and began toying with the ends of her hair until she slowly drifted.

"Night Sonnyboy."

"Night sweetheart."


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did! (Huh, I may not need this disclaimer for long)

* * *

"Okay. I'm curious."

"Hi curious, I'm Thomas."

"Cute." Alexis whispered under her breath as she stared across the desk at Thomas Marks, attorney and FBI agent extraordinaire. "You know what I mean. When we were talking outside of the Quartermaine's house the other day you said you went from being a defense attorney, to a prosecutor, to an FBI agent. How did that happen?"

"I'm a fickle, fickle man," he winced inwardly while he grinned on the outside. This was not a conversation he wanted to have right now and with this woman, no matter how sexy she looked in a suit.

"Hey," she got up from her seat at her desk, walked around so that she was standing in front of him, and pulled his head up by his chin so that she was staring in his striking blue eyes. "I'm serious. I want to know."

"Fine." Tommy scrubbed his hands across his freshly shaved face and pointed to the seat next to him, "Sit."

"Yes, sir," Alexis grinned and moved the file that had been lying in the seat so that she could sit next to him. "Start at the beginning."

"Well, I was born on…"

"Not that beginning," Alexis shivered as a smile spread across his face. God he was gorgeous.

"Alright, seriously, I got into the FBI because of my daughter."

"I didn't know you had a child."

"Yeah, she'd be about Emily's age." Past tense, Alexis realized he spoke about his little girl in the past tense. This was not going to be the lighthearted story she'd envisioned. When she saw him the first time with his scruffy looking face, taut muscles, and bright blue eyes shining with humor, she'd assumed that he'd become an agent for the adventure—life on the edge and all. Now she wasn't so sure.

"What happened," she asked quietly, afraid that if she spoke to loud the man across from her would shatter into little pieces merely from the vibrations in her voice. He'd become nearly fragile looking in a matter of minutes.

"I had a defendant, Simon Morris, though I doubt that was even his real name. He came here from Russia and had two other aliases—that we knew of—that could have passed for legitimate to any court in the land. I took the case before I realized that Morris was connected to Nikolai, not that it would have mattered because I didn't know who Nikolai was at the time anyway. I also didn't know that Morris was guilty as sin. He was accused of raping six young girls in Virginia and murdering five of them, I thought he was innocent, but I'm not sure it would have matter either way. I was a defense attorney and I loved the money and power that came with it."

"I think it would have mattered," Alexis responded sincerely. "You don't seem like the type that would defend a rapist."

Tommy smiled regretfully when she didn't say murderer, "You didn't know me back then. Anyway, on the tenth day of the trial as the sister of one of the victims, who was there when her sister was kidnapped, gave her testimony, I realized he was guilty. Don't ask me how I knew, I just knew. The look on his face as that girl sat up on the stand, tears streaming down her face as she gave her testimony. He was enjoying it.

"When we got back into the defense room I tore into him, said he was an animal and he deserved whatever he got. I even lied and said that he should just take a plea bargain and do some time, because I thought he was going to be convicted. Yeah right. Even if I hadn't kept working on the case he would have gotten off, Nikolai had the judge in his pocket; the only reason they needed me was for appearances. They didn't want it to look like a payoff so they got the best defense attorney they could find. A week after the trial was over I paid for my outburst in the defense room. I came home from work at nine o'clock to find my daughter lying dead in out foyer; her throat had been cut…"

"Oh my God," Alexis interrupted, her hand flying up to her throat. "I'm so sorry Tommy. Was she…"

"No," he shook his head before she could get the words out, he didn't even want to think about that. "There was a note next to her body from Nikolai. It said that he'd do me the favor of killing her quickly, no rape, because I took the case and defended Morris to the best of my ability, but I had to pay for insulting his associate."

"And that's why you became an agent?"

"No," he answered. He wanted to keep moving on, but all he could think of was walking into his home that day. He'd been working late so that he could be ready for summer vacation. He'd promised that after the Morris trial he was going to take a break, spend time with his little girl. They were only young once and she had just entered into teenager land—thirteen to be exact—he wanted to be sure she knew about boys and all the dirty tricks they had for getting girls into bed. He'd been thinking about rafting and camping in the Grand Canyon all the way home, even up to the point where he stepped into his house.

And then there she was, in her jeans that he thought were too tight for someone her age and her Care Bears t-shirt, lying on the ground, blood spilling from her neck onto the freshly cleaned tile in their hallway. Dead. The contrast between the blood that was flowing from her body and the white tile was like nothing he'd ever seen before or after. White had never looked so pure and blood had never looked so harsh.

He remembered yelling, howling really, as he slid across the floor and over to her body. He remembered putting his hands to her neck to stop the bleeding. He remembered checking her pulse even after he knew she was dead. Calling for help even after he knew it was hopeless. Begging and bargaining with God even after he realized the bastard didn't exist. He remembered crying and thinking he could hear her cry too. He remembered the cops showing up and telling him to let her go. He remembered a friend telling him that she died quickly. He remembered nothing after that, not the hospital, not the funeral, not the wake. Nothing, except that his little girl was gone for good. Later his friends told him that he'd mourned, died really, slowly and painfully and in a way his daughter hadn't. They also told him that he had to move on. He told them to go to hell and that was the end of that.

"So why the FBI?" Alexis knew he was probably stuck in some horrible memory; she had enough of those to recognize the symptoms when she saw them. She also knew that it was best to pull him out of it before it drove him insane.

He grunted tersely as he remembered his reason for leaving the prosecutors office, "I realized that I was letting out almost as many assholes working for the good guys as I did working for the bad guys. My last case I prosecuted a father who killed the man who murdered his daughter. It hit too close to home and I realized that while there were some criminals I distained, there were others that I looked up to. It just left a sour taste in my mouth. A friend came to me, told me that the FBI might be a good place to try, and I realized that one day I might get another shot at Andrejs Nikolai or Simon Morris. I took it."

"And then?"

"They put me in a sex crimes division and I did great there, but one day there were rumors, rumblings about the organized crime division going after Nikolai. I jumped on it and asked if I could transfer, my superiors approved whole-heartedly. I didn't realize at the time that they had been looking at me from the beginning."

"Why," Alexis asked as she leaned forward in her seat. She was all of the sudden becoming very interested in Thomas Marks.

"Emily," he answered, laughing. "No one could handle her. Most of them didn't know how to deal with their own children or didn't have children, forget knowing how to deal with a teenager girl who had an attitude _from here to there_. She had them all pulling out their hair or wanting to."

"And you knew exactly what to do?"

"Nah. At first I didn't even try. I thought the idea of using a girl to get at Nikolai was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard. The only reason I agreed was because I assumed that they would realize the error of their ways and forget using her and let me take over the case."

"And they didn't," she surmised. Incorrectly.

"They didn't get the chance. Emily kind of grew on me…"

"Like a fungus," Alexis laughed.

"Yea," he smiled. "Something like that."

"I had a teenager to deal with myself for a while, well my brother and I did, Nikolas, my nephew."

"Emily talked about him a lot. How he was a great friend, how he probably knew some of the moves I was teaching her, how she missed him."

"I bet. Nikolas, Emily, Lucky, and Liz were the four musketeers. Those four were inseparable for the longest time. Right up until…"

"She left," he finished and she nodded. "Yeah, getting back to that. I thought that I'd just use her to get where I needed to be and then she could go home, but she had other ideas. She decided that if she was gonna be stuck anyway she might as well figure out what was going on. She was a smart elleck, but man she had an attention span like you would not believe, when she was interested, and a mind like a steal trap. Scared the shit out of me sometimes. For the first couple of weeks we'd spar and I'd usually kick her butt, then one day she just slammed me. I gave her a kick to her midsection and she doubled over, I was stepping forward to teach her how to take the blow and her elbow came up and hit me square on the side of my face. I felt like she threw a bag of bricks at my head and she just smiled and made some comment about not letting my opponent get the advantage."

"And the student surpassed the teacher?"

"Hell no," he scoffed and then snorted. "I just started really beating the crap out of her. No holds barred. She'd be bruised and broken at the end of the week and I'd just laugh. It took her a while to realize that the reason I was fairing better had nothing to do with training or strength and everything to do with discipline. That's when I started teaching her to meditate."

"Yeah, I bet. So how did you come up with the alias? I mean no one who knew Emily Quartermaine would ever suspect her of being someone like Corey Wilson."

"Really? And how do you know that?"

"I've done my homework. I may not have access to all of the good stuff, but I have enough connections to get the gist of things."

"I just bet you do," Tommy responded noncommittally as he rubbed his neck. "I didn't really come up with the alias as you heard, the first name was her aunts, the last was Ted's, the agent who found her. I mean I built a lot of the financial stuff and fudged some records, but the personality is all Emily. Sometimes I think that Corey really does exist somewhere inside of Emily. She scares me at times. The things she's be trained to do scare me at times."

"But you trained her right? Why would that scare you?"

"No, I taught her hand-to-hand combat, karate, kickboxing, guns, things like that. The specialty stuff, _extracting evidence_, making and setting bombs, all the assassin stuff, they brought in a specialist for that, a guy who was taught by one of the old schoolers."

"So," Alexis began, worried, "she really is capable of killing—torturing someone to get the information she needs? That doesn't sound like Emily."

"There was a time when I would have agreed. I would have said that all of the dirty stuff was Corey's job—and don't look at me like that, I know how deluded that sounds, but it's what I believed, what we all believed—but lately I've noticed that the two are merging. She's cooler headed as Corey than she ever has been, but more calculating as Emily than she ever has been."

"Is that good or bad?"

"I don't know. I mean there is a code that she lives by, that all of them live by, though I'm not sure I understand it. She doesn't go after children—EVER—and she doesn't go after women who aren't in the business, even if they know what their spouses are capable of. I guess that's good."

"A code," Alexis mumbled. "I can't remember how many times I've heard that word before. Stefan used to say it, still does, Sonny, Jason, Lucky, all of them say it, lately even Nikolas has been saying it when dealing with business rivals. I've never understood it, but I will say that I've used it to my advantage sometimes."

Alexis could see the struggle clearly on Thomas' face and she knew exactly how he was feeling, because she had felt it before. It was the struggle between wanting to follow the law and knowing that there were times when it was really just a useless symbol of societies need to feel protected.

"You want to know the truth? The truth is that you're going to stand by her no matter what she does and you know it. Your connected now, just like I am to Sonny and Stefan, and as much as you may not like the methods used sometimes, you know that there is someone worse out there that they are keeping from moving in across from some unsuspecting family. Whatever else they are, the people we love, trust, and protect, they aren't merciless and they are ours. For better or worse."

"I know," he agreed. "Some days I just wonder if she had to be like this. If I had done the right thing, called her family and told them she was alive, would it be different?"

"Do you really want the truth," she asked and waited for nearly thirty seconds for him to nod his head. "The truth is that I don't know, but I do know that the bell was already rung. She already knew that the FBI had information about who she is and who her family was and she already knew that Andrejs Nikolai was involved. And I know Emily or Corey or whoever, and I know that with that information she would have done whatever it took to get the truth. One thing that I'm sure has not changed about her is her relentless search for answers and need to set things right, no matter how off course she gets from her original goal."

"I agree," he smiled and looked into her eyes; he'd never met someone who could understand his decision to take Emily under his wing, to become an agent after his daughter died. He wondered if she'd understand the need for revenge that flickered just under his skin every minute of every day. Yes, a part of him answered, she would, he could see it in her eyes that tried so hard to be strong, but still held so much pain.

Alexis' breath caught in her throat as Thomas reached over and rested his hand on her cheek. He held it there for a second, just held it, then his fingers moved to her lips and he traced them. She parted them pliantly hoping, praying that he was planning on moving further than just touching her lips with his fingers. But when he leaned forward to kiss her, her mind screamed out that there was still too much she didn't know.

"What was your daughters name," she blurted it out, unprepared for how cold and callous the words would sound leaving her mouth. "Oh God, I'm sorr…"

"Claire," he answered, still holding her face. "Anything else?"

"Uh, no, no I don't think so," she shivered at the smiled that spread across his face as he moved a little closer, his brilliant eyes trained her murky ones. "Wait. Claire's mother, she had a mother right? Well of course she had one, but are you two…"

"Together," he finished and she nodded silently. "No. She got pregnant in law school and decided she couldn't take care of a child. I didn't want her to get an abortion so my mother suggested to me that I do what a real man would and take the child after it was born. I asked Melissa, she agreed, carried Claire to term and then walked out of her life. They still saw each other about once a year and Melissa came to the funeral, from what I hear, but Claire was all mine."

"Now," he smiled desperately trying to force away the bad memories so that he could focus on making another good one. "I'm not gonna beg to be able to kiss you, but I will say that it's cold to just leave a man hanging like this."

"Is it? Well I'm sorry," she smiled as she lowered her mouth to graze his cheek, bypassing his lips, and sampled a flavor she wanted to devour. She moved lower, her clever mouth skimming down his throat, but still shying away from his lips, which were nearly begging for attention. Finally, after she could no longer stand the suspense she lifted her head and stared into his eyes one last time, hoping this was what he wanted, and latched onto his mouth selfishly taking all he would give. This turned out to be quite a bit.

"You're very good at that," Tommy said as he pulled away from her heaving to take in his next breath. "Very, very good. Where did you learn to do that?"

"What," she asked knowing exactly what he meant.

"That thing with your tongue, when you moved it across…" he shivered remembering the path her tongue had taken through his mouth.

"Oh, that," she grinned inwardly. "Boarding school."

"All girls," he asked and she heard a twinge of hope in his voice. Pervert.

"Yes, except the very young, very gracious son of one of the housekeepers."

"I bet he was…gracious."

"Jealous?"

"Yes, a little. And grateful."

"Yeah, right, whatever," she looked at the mess of files, papers, and cardboard dinner boxes around her office and pulled him up out of his seat. "Come on, help me clean and there might be more where that came from."

"Yes, mam."

* * *

Emily Bowen-Quartermaine took another drag of the cigarette she had been nursing for the past five minutes and sat back into the chair in Sonny's room. She stared out the window of penthouse two's master bedroom and watched as the lights of Port Charles' better neighborhoods went out for the night and the seedier ones came to life. No matter how much time she'd spent in cities—most of which were larger than Port Charles—she always missed the starry skies and clear nights living in Arizona had afforded her as a child.

"What are you doing," Sonny asked as he walked into his room and shut the door behind him. He looked over at Emily who was sitting on one of his chairs wearing a silk robe—his—that bunched above her knees and smoking a cigarette.

"Thinking," Emily turned her head so that Sonny could see her profile lit by the lights from the city outside his window.

"No," he shook his head to get rid of the image, walked over to her and snatched the cigarette out of her hand. "This?"

"Well I was smoking it," she winced as he put it out, "but not so much anymore."

"It's bad for you."

"Oh, that, don't worry I'm pretty much a shoe-in for cancer of some sort considering my lifestyle and genetics. You aren't contributing to my delinquency or anything."

"I'm sure that's a very good point, but I was talking about the fact that you were shot a week ago."

"Not in the lungs," Emily quipped.

"You know what I mean."

"Yea, sorry. It's just that for all intents and purposed I've been trapped in this penthouse for a week. I'm a little edgy and watching you twist and turn on that thing," she grimaced as she pointed to the leather couch on the other side of the room, "doesn't help much either."

"Fine, your better, you sleep on it tonight."

"I don't get why I can't just sleep in the guest room."

"We've gone over this before, sweetheart; I don't want Bella accidentally telling someone that her big brother and his girlfriend don't share a room."

"Who's she gonna tell? Sonnyboy. She spends almost as much time in this godforsaken penthouse as I do and the only people she ever goes anywhere with are people who already know."

"What about Michael?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure Bella and Michael just sit around all day talking about our sleeping arrangements. And who is he gonna tell? Bobbie?"

"I don't know, but we aren't taking any chances so quit bitching about it," he smiled inwardly as an exasperated look crossed her face; she was cute when he annoyed her. That's probably why he did it so much.

"I don't bitch. I comment."

"Constantly."

"Yeah, well, it's the only way to drowned out your constant perfectionism about everything."

"And you wouldn't have to drown me out if you stayed the hell out of my kitchen."

"Oh my gosh," Emily yelled indignantly, "I was only making brownies with Bella."

Sonny nearly laughed out loud as she scrunched up her nose at him and stuck her tongue out, "Your defense is that you had a child help you cook?"

"No, my defense was that I was helping a child cook. But," Emily turned around so that she was no longer sprawled across the chair, but now had both feet planted in front of it, "now that you've mentioned Bella. How was your day with her? You didn't like stop to clean her every two seconds did you?"

"No," Sonny sat down on the corner of his bed and rested his hands on his knees. "I got her school records transferred so that she'll be able to start with the rest of the kids at the end of the summer. They might be able to get her into a class with Michael, she seemed happy about that."

"I bet," Emily grinned. "Within a weeks time those two have become nearly inseparable. I thought they didn't like the opposite sex at the age…cooties or something."

"Don't say opposite sex, it gives me a headache."

"What? They're kids. It's not like they're having se—intercourse," Emily laughed as Sonny bowed his head a little and scrubbed his hand across his face.

"I don't want to think about this."

"Fine. Sorry. Tell me about the rest of your day."

"I don't know." Sonny looked up to make sure that Emily wasn't going to put anymore thoughts of his very little sister and sex in his head again and then continued on, "We had breakfast at Kelly's. I think she's developed your love of pancakes, but I talked her into putting blueberries on it. After that we handled her school stuff and medical records, all that.

"Then we went to the park and she made me eat hot dogs from one of the vendors. Disgusting. We spent the afternoon with me pushing her on the swings, all of them, and her wanting to go higher; we talked some about Mike," Sonny grinned inwardly as Emily started to say something and he cut her off. "Don't worry I was nice, didn't say one bad thing about how he's gambled his life away or how it will probably take years to find him because he moves around so much trying to get away from people he owes money too."

"Well that was very adult of you. Continue."

"Yes, mam. For dinner she wanted something _fancy_ so we bought her a dress…"

"You bought her a dress," Emily nearly doubled over laughing as she pictured Sonny standing in the girl's section of some store looking for a dress for his little sister. "Did you wait for her to try things on and everything?"

"No. The sales woman handled all of that stuff; I just sat back and nodded."

"Oh, kind of like shopping with one of your numerous ex-idiots, oh sorry, I meant ex-girlfriends."

"I bet. Anyway, we ended up at the Grille where we ran into your, always civil, grandfather."

"Was that humor?" Emily laughed for fear that she would scream. Sonny and Edward, alone, that was never a good thing. "So what happened?"

"He made a couple of comments about me being a thug, hoodlum, ruffian, gangster and I can't remember the others."

"Oh god. How did Bella take it?"

"She didn't. Max saw him coming and took Bella to get some desert before the old man made it to the table. He didn't even see her."

"Thank God. I can just imagine how she would have taken that. Especially if grandfather had said something about Michael or, god forbid, our relationship."

"Now you know why we have to look like we are sharing a room."

"Well, if you were trying to teach me a lesson you didn't have to be so round about…about it."

"I wasn't, but it did make me realize that we're going to have to be very careful about what we do and say and who we do it and say it around."

"Agreed."

"You're easy today."

"Don't let it get around." Sonny laughed at Emily's sick brand of humor, the girl had more sex-oriented jokes than any mobster he'd ever been around.

"So it's starting," Emily smirked at the puzzled look on Sonny's face. "My family. Next Monica will show up at the door asking to speak to me, a mother-daughter talk. Dad will want to take me out to dinner somewhere, just him and his youngest. And Grandfather will by trying to get Taggert to arrest you for statutory rape or something."

Sonny winced, "You're over eighteen."

"Grandfather doesn't remember that most of the time. He still thinks I'm twelve years old."

"For someone who is supposed to love their family you don't seem to like them very much."

"It was hard," Emily grinned down at her fingers as she started playing with the nails, digging out all of the crap that had accumulated in them as the day passed. "In the Quartermaine house, the only thing that was actually worse than not being Jason Quartermaine, was not wanting to be. I mean don't get me wrong, my family loves me and I love them, but so often I was ignored because I had no desire to try and live up to their expectations. Mostly, they only paid attention when I was doing something _wrong_. I guess that's better than Daniel who always paid attention."

"Your…stepfather?"

"Yeah, I guess that's what he was. I'm not really sure if he was married to my mother or not, legally. I know they pretended and she took his last name, or what was supposed to be his last name."

"What was he like?"

"We've had this conversation before Sonny. You know what he was like and you know I don't want to get into it."

"I heard you say that," he reached over and brushed her bangs out of her face. They had fallen when started looking down at her fingers, "but I also hear you tremble and whimper in your sleep."

"Bad dreams, they aren't always about him."

"But mostly they are?"

"Why are you pushing this," Emily got up from her seat and walked around it so that she was standing next to the window instead of sitting in front of it. "Do you want to open up and tell me what it was like living with Deke? How he beat the crap out of your mother? How he beat the crap out of you? No. So don't expect me to tell you about Daniel Bowen or whoever the hell he was. Okay?"

"Fine."

Emily whipped around and stared at Sonny, "Don't do that. Don't act like I've done something to hurt you because I don't want to relive my shitty childhood with you. I'm not one of your damn damsels in distress and I don't need you to pity me. I'm a big girl and I survived this long without someone holding my hand."

"Did I ask to hold your hand? Did I tell you that I wanted you to cry on my shoulder? I just thought you might want to talk about it. Aren't you the same person that's always talking about how I don't know you and I don't get to judge you?"

"Yes. And I was wrong, obviously you do know me, at least a little, but I just don't want to talk about this. Can you understand that?"

"Sure, whatever," Sonny stood up and started walking toward the door.

"Sure whatever? Is that an, _I'm upset and don't want to deal with her anymore_, sure whatever? It is an, _I'm going to leave this alone, for now_, sure whatever? Or is it an, _I'm going to respect Emily's wishes_, sure whatever?"

"The last two," Sonny turned as he reached the door and smiled across the room at her. "Is that acceptable?"

"Sure, whatever."

"Smartass."

"Yep," Emily laughed and walked across the room to Sonny. When she reached him she looked up into his eyes and smiled. "You know you're really sexy when you're trying to work something out in your head."

"Excuse me?" Sonny almost fell over as he looked back into her eyes. Did she just call him sexy?

"I said," she stepped a little closer and pulled on both sides of the suit jacket he was wearing. "You're sexy when you're trying to figure something out. Last night I sat at the top of the stairs for nearly ten minutes just watching you as you sat on the couch going over your books for the coffee warehouse. You get this really deep, dark look in your eyes, like if someone interrupts you may have to shoot them or something. And then once your really into it, you get this crease right here," she reached up and traced the crease that was forming on his forehead and between his eyes. "It's really a lot sexier than I though creases could be."

"This is a bad idea," Sonny recoiled a little as Emily's hands made their way up the middle of his chest and around his neck. "A really bad idea. Jason would kill me."

"But I'm the one starting it," Emily responded as she leaned in a little closer.

Sonny smiled down at her and wondered if this wasn't payback for the kiss he'd nearly tricked her into a little over a week before. Then he looked down at her moist lips and decided he didn't care, "Screw it."

Sonny leaned further down until his lips barely grazed Emily's and then smiled as he moved further down and took his time kissing a very tender spot behind her at the base of her neck, just below her ear. He smirked when he heard her moan and felt her reach around so that she could pull his lips back to hers.

"You're cheating," Emily lightly kissed both corners of Sonny's mouth before slightly parting his lips with her tongue and enjoying the taste of him. "Bourbon and danger."

"Excuse me," Sonny asked as he pulled away to look into her eyes.

"That's what you taste like, bourbon and danger…and maybe a hint of vanilla. I don't know, let me check again." And she did. "I think that maybe neither of us should sleep on the couch tonight."

"Emily." She could hear the warning in his voice as he pulled away from her and planted his hands on her shoulders.

"No, no, I don't mean sex or anything," she nearly groaned when he started to massage her neck. "I'm just saying that it might be nice to just sleep together. Just sleep. You know to keep each other company."

Sonny looked into Emily's pleading chocolate colored eyes and wondered if she had an ulterior motive for wanting to share a bed. Like maybe the nightmares that she effectively gotten him to stop talking about. "Okay. Just sleep."

"Good," Emily grinned inwardly and starting planting light kisses on both of Sonny's cheeks as she pulled him toward the bed.

"Hold on." He stopped her before they both landed squarely in the middle of danger. "I'm going to go take a shower and you are going to put on something other than just…this." She laughed as he opened his robe to reveal one of the silk nightgowns she had been wearing. They weren't really comfortable, but she didn't want Sonny to know that she usually either slept in shorts and a t-shirt or nothing.

"Okay, what am I supposed to put on?"

"I don't know. Get a t-shirt out of my drawer and a pair of my pajama pants or something."

"Pants," she shook her head. "No, it gets hot in here sometimes."

"Fine," he relented. He could have turned the air conditioning up as he had in Bella's room, but he didn't like the cold when he slept, it reminded him too much of a closest floor. Of course he also didn't really want to put himself in the position of having to wake to Emily wearing a pair of his boxers and one of his t-shirts, but he'd settle for the lesser of two evils. "Put on a pair of my boxers."

"Not briefs," Emily laughed when he turned to look at her obviously disturbed. "Gotcha, no tighty-whities for Mr. Corinthos."

"Just change."

"Fine," Emily saluted at his back as he walked into the bathroom. She didn't move until she heard the water running and even then she only flopped back onto the bed, the bed that she was going to be sharing with Sonny Corinthos, she corrected. Shit. This had not been the plan. Had there been a plan? She'd been sitting, perfectly happy to brood, until he walked in the room and now she was going to be sharing a bed with him.

_With Sonny Corinthos_, the darker voice in her head reminded her and made her smile. There were definitely worse situations to be in.

And maybe the nightmares would be held at bay if she had someone's arms around her. Hopefully.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

_Bang. _

_Bang._

"Son of a…" Brenda Barrett Morgan rolled over in bed and threw the covers off of her body. She'd been trying for thirty minutes, since Jason had woken up and gone downstairs, to get back to sleep, but his uncontrolled need to play pool in the middle of the night was causing a problem.

_Bang._

"Fine," she grunted as she crawled out of bed and started on her way downstairs.

He didn't even know she was in the room until she wrapped her hands around his waist and settled her head in between his shoulder blades.

"That's new," she smiled as he set his pool cue aside and wrapped his hands around hers.

"What's new?"

"Well I've been trying, unsuccessfully, since we got together to sneak up on you. I wish I'd known I could get you while you were playing pool."

"Shooting," he corrected. "You don't play pool, you shoot it."

"Right," she murmured. "Shooting."

He smiled to himself at her agreement; they both knew she didn't really care. He'd been trying for months to teach her to shoot pool, but half way through it usually turned into her finding some way to get him out of his clothes or, in all fairness, for him to get her out of hers.

"Did I keep you up?"

"Yeah, but that's okay, I don't like sleeping without you anyway. I just want to know how Michael sleeps through this."

"I don't know," he smiled. "I guess he's just gotten used to it, but that boy could sleep through anything."

"Hmmm…anything?" She grinned mischievously as he turned his head to look at her. When he raised his eyebrows she captured his lips in a kiss and refused to let go until she had him turned all of the way around and facing her. When she pulled back she looked up into his piercing blue eyes and debated silently with herself on whether or not she wanted to broach the subject that had been gnawing at her.

"What?"

"What do you mean what? Why is it that every time I try to show you some affection you assume I want something?"

"Because you usually do," he grinned as she frowned at him. She knew he was right, that was part of they game the played with each other. She held up the pretense that she truly believed he'd deny her something and he pretended like he had to be talked into everything; mostly because if she was trying to convince him of something, then she wasn't out causing trouble somewhere else.

"Believe it or not, I really don't want anything this time. I was just wondering what's bothering you."

"Nothing."

"Work?"

"No."

"Me?"

"No," he answered quickly and brought his hands up to frame her face. "Definitely not."

"Emily?" She shook her head as he hesitated. Exactly. "You know she's a big girl now, right?"

"I know that, I've always known she was strong," he moved his hands from her face and scrubbed them down his own. "I'm worried she'll push herself too far and try too hard to make this work."

"Why would she do that, I mean I know she wants to bring this guy down, but why would she push herself too hard?"

"If this works out then the FBI is supposed to give her a file or something on her father."

"Wow, I mean, wow. That's big right?"

"Yeah, it's big, but I think she's trying too hard for it."

"Why do you think that?"

"She, uh, she told me once that she loved the Quartermaine's and everything, you know, but that she thought there was a part of her that belonged somewhere else and it always made her feel like she was betraying them or something."

"So," Brenda responded carefully, "are you maybe, a little, worried that she won't think of you the same way if she finds some long lost family?"

"No," he smiled and leaned into her a little bit. "Emily's my sister, not because of blood or some legal papers or something. I don't care about that stuff. I love her, I like protecting her, and she's mine, nothing will change that."

"Good," Brenda reached down and took his hands in hers. "I'm glad you know that, but if you're not worried about losing her then what is the problem? You think maybe her father won't want to see her?"

"That," he agreed. "Or maybe the FBI doesn't really know anything about him. Or maybe they do, but he's already dead. I just don't trust them."

"Well, maybe you should try and check it out for yourself." She saw that he was going to interrupt and she held her hand up to him. "I'm not saying keep the information from her or anything; just do a little search of your own. If you find something you can give it to her so she'll have what you found and, hopefully, an FBI file. And if you don't find anything, maybe you could give her a heads up about that, you know, just to let her know they may be lying. Either way Jason, she'll be able to handle it, she's strong, like you said, but more importantly she has you to back her up."

"Yeah," he agreed and then pulled her closer to him. "So what was it you wanted?"

"Excuse me?"

"Come on Bren, this was really nice of you, but you and I both know that you came down here thinking about something else. What?"

"Well," she planted kisses on each of his cheeks and his nose and lastly his mouth. "Maybe I wanted you to come back upstairs."

"Ummmm," he pulled away and laughed at her. "Or maybe you wanted to talk about the club that you and Gia are trying to open."

"Well, now that you mention it…"

"No," he interrupted. "We've talked about this before."

"Why not," she whined cautiously, he always hated when she did that.

"Because it's dangerous, people will see it as a way to get to me or Sonny or Lucky and I don't want you or Gia in that position."

"I knew you liked Gia."

"Don't push it."

"Well," she grinned playfully, "what if we had help? Someone who knows what they are doing and could make it so we don't step on anyone's toes—a front person so to speak. Would you go for it then?"

"Who's the front person," he asked suspiciously.

"Emily."

"Definitely not."

"Come on," she jumped up and down like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum. "It will add a bit of cover for her and give her something to do when this is over…providing that Sonny doesn't recruit her." Brenda smiled as Jason grimaced. "Anyway, Emily would have the cover and Gia and I would have our club. It's perfect!"

"Uh huh, it's perfect right up until the three of you put your heads together and decide to make a _plan_ for something and then I'm stuck bailing you out of jail the next morning."

"Oh my gosh, one time. One time Gia and I broke into a competitor's office building and we'll never live it down. Ridiculous."

"One time you got caught. Don't think we don't know about the others."

"Others," she smiled suspiciously and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Yes, after the first time we had Johnny follow you two whenever you had corporate business. By the way, the only reason you got out of that office building last week was because he got the cops attention, you should thank him."

"You knew about that?"

"Yes," he laughed. "What the hell were you doing anyway?"

"They started it. The stole the idea for the ad campaign we had. They shot theirs and hyped it before we could get ours done…"

"And," he shook his hands indicating he wanted her to get to the point.

"Well we knew we couldn't stop them or anything and we obviously can't run that ad now, so we decided to steal all their pictures and delete the files from the computers. Now they have to re-shoot."

"That's sick."

"Yeah, we knew that, but the victory the next morning was amazing. You wouldn't believe how much time and money it cost the other guys," she threw her head back and laughed after he nipped her on the chin. "So come on, we can obviously take care of ourselves. Just trust us. Please."

"Fine, as long as Sonny and Lucky agree and you run certain things by us. I don't want you getting the liquor licenses on your own or talking to distributors. Just tell one of us and we'll send a guard, even if Emily is with you. Okay?"

"Yes," she smiled and jumped into his arms. "Absolutely!"

"Good," he wrapped his arms around her waist and hefted her up so that he had a better hold, "Are you ready to go back upstairs now?"

"Hmmm…yes, sir." Her laughter rang throughout the penthouse as he carried her upstairs and to bed.

* * *

"Mr. Alcazar?"

"Yes."

"The boss is on the phone."

Lorenzo Alcazar nodded his head warily. His father. "Put him through." "Hola papa, como estas?"

"Bueno," Adriano Alcazar smiled into the phone as heard his son's voice for the first time in weeks. He had so much to tell him, but first… "English. We'll speak in English for this call."

"Yes sir." Lorenzo shook his head, the cops in America could easily translate Spanish to English, but sometimes it was harder for the cops in Venezuela to translate English into Spanish. They had to make it harder on someone.

"Stops speaking as thought you are having a conversation with a priest. I'm still your father."

"Sorry." It had been harder for both of them since Luis died; he'd always been their father's favorite—and Lorenzo their mothers—and the two left were never quite sure of how to deal with each other. Luis had been handling the business and acting as go between for them. They needed to get used to being in business together again.

"I know. Luis just took over for both of us these past few years. Your mother keeps asking me why I don't spend as much time with her anymore, I don't have the heart to tell her it's because I'm doing the job Luis used to. Both of us are."

"How is she," Lorenzo asked, his voice timbered with concern. His mother had begun forgetting things after Luis was killed, in the weeks that followed she began thinking she was seeing and hearing her dead child throughout the house and no one was quite sure why. Losing a child wasn't easy for anyone, but she's always been a very strong woman.

"Better. I hope. The doctors still say there's nothing wrong physically her mind just became tired after Luis…"

"Hopefully, I'll be home soon."

"Darling," Lorenzo heard his mother's voice float in from the background, "who is that on the phone. Let me hear."

"It's me…"

"Luis," she asked startled. It couldn't be.

"No, it's Lorenzo."

"Oh, Enzo." She immediately smiled. "I'm sorry; you two have always sounded so much alike on the phone. I used to confuse you all of the time when you were boys and you would go away with your father. But now Luis is dead." She said the last part as an afterthought.

"Yes, I know."

"Of course you know sweetheart." She laughed easily as if she was speaking to a child that had asked her why the sky was blue. "It's me who forgets sometimes."

"Sweetheart," Adriano took the phone carefully from his wife's hands. "I need to speak with Enzo for a few minutes about…"

"I still remember what you do for a living," she interrupted, her voice hardening, but only enough that her son and husband would notice. If an outsider had been in the room they wouldn't have noticed a difference in the tone. "And I still don't want to know about it. You have until I make it to the phone downstairs to finish your conversation."

"Ma, I'll speak with your later. I just…"

"Of course you will. You'll speak with me as soon I get to the phone downstairs I want to tell you about a girl I saw."

"No…"

"Don't bother," his father interrupted, "she'll just set you up anyway."

"She shouldn't." Why couldn't she understand? Why couldn't either of them understand? He'd been married to the woman he loved, he'd lost her, and there was no one else in the world for him. Not after her.

"You know one day you'll have to move on from…"

"I have moved on, I've been with women since…" He massaged the bone in his nose carefully as he continued. It still hurt to say her name. "…since her."

"I know you've been with women," his father responded with a slight annoyance in his voice. Adriano Alcazar did not approve of his son's lifestyle. A different woman in every town. A different woman every night. Unacceptable. "You haven't loved."

"I loved once and that nearly killed me. Why would you…"

"Why would I what," he interrupted as the anger in his voice reached its hilt. "Why would I care about my son's life and what he's doing with it? Why do I want him to be happy? Never mind," he quickly switched gears, too worried about widening the gap between he and his son to risk continuing the conversation. "How is Port Charles, New York?"

"Good—okay."

"Not what you thought it would be is it? There's a funny thing about American's, they are more obsessed than any other country with men in our business—right up until they have to face reality. They love _The Godfather_, but hate mobsters. They make music and movies about our lifestyle and how much they want to live it, but they'd much rather see us in jail than walking down the same street as them with our heads held high. They'd rather pretend we don't exist and we are evil if we do, but the truth of the matter, my son, is that men like you and I keep the real devils off their streets."

"I know," Lorenzo agreed reluctantly. He hated it when his father started preaching about how they were the lesser of two evils and how if they weren't doing what they were someone else would be and that person wouldn't care who the guns or the drugs were sold to. At least they had standards. _Yeah, standards. Right._

"Okay," Adriano answered back, not completely convinced of his son's agreement, but yet again, not willing to push the subject. "Tell me about business."

"You've heard about the murders of Vito and Demetri?"

"I have. We will both attend the funerals when the bodies are released."

"I'd planned to already," Lorenzo answered and then smiled. "We're not going to Danny Marciano's?"

"No." He walked over and spit out the window. "I've always wondered about that boy, from the time he was a child. He always looked evil. His eyes were too bright and there was something wrong hiding behind them."

"Yeah." Lorenzo laughed after his father spit. The old man always did have a flare for the dramatic.

"So what is the talk about the murders?"

"Most believe that Nikolai ordered Danny to kill Vito and Demetri and after that was done he handled Danny on his own."

"Huh."

"You don't agree?"

"No. Vito and Demetri's murders were flashy, thought out. No one is quite sure how the poison was slipped into their food, because they have it tested. But Danny, a shot to the back of the head, not Nikolai's style, he likes to leave his mark. He would want people to know for sure he did it. He likes the flash too much to just go old school after already killing two bosses. He would have gone all the way with Danny."

"You don't think he was just trying to cover his tracks?"

"Think. Who killed Vito and Demetri?"

"Nikolai, no one else had motive and no one else would go after two bosses."

"So if you know that the man had the balls to kill two bosses, why would he worry about hiding the fact the he killed a man the commission hasn't cared about for years. They told Tony Marciano that he could put at bullet in his cousin a long time ago, the only reason he was still alive was because Tony was loyal to family—even when that family didn't deserve it."

"So who killed Danny?"

"I believe that is the million dollar question. Looks like Port Charles may be getting a little more heat than we planned for. Do you want me to send more guards?"

"No, that will only draw attention, besides no one outside of Corinthos' and his family is looking at me. I'd like to keep it that way."

"Really? Not Faith Roscoe."

"Faith? Who is Faith Roscoe? Are you seeing this woman Enzo, because I don't think you should. The tone in your father's voice didn't sound right," Katia Alcazar chastised as she yet again joined in their conversation, this time from the phone in the sitting room downstairs. "And, anyway, I found a picture of the girl."

Adriano made is way downstairs as his wife was ranting about Lorenzo not dating Faith Roscoe—he wanted to see the girl she had in mind for their son. Maybe this one would work. Crazy as his wife seemed to be lately, she did introduce Lorenzo to his first wife and she knew without having to be told that Faith was out of the question.

"Here she is," Katia handed the picture to her husband and smiled. She's been trying to explain the girl to Enzo, but her husband would be better at it. "Isn't she perfect Addy?"

He looked at the picture his wife gave him and immediately felt something sink in the pit of his stomach, "Where did you get this?"

"Who is it?" Lorenzo had been listening to his mother's description, but she'd sounded like every other brown eyed, brunette he'd seen. What was so special about this woman?

"Ms. Quartermaine."

"Emily?"

"This girl would be perfect for you," his mother smiled as she picked up the second phone in the sitting room. "Wouldn't she Addy? Oh, never mind, you men know nothing. Have you seen her before Enzo? You know her name. Can't you see Sophie in her smile and that beautiful brown hair? Though there does seem to be one problem, she has your eyes. You know those strong, beautiful eyes that you have. When I catch them in the right light, though, I can see the fear. Whoever took the picture got her in the right light."

"Ma…"

"Oh never mind Enzo, I don't know what I was thinking. This girl wouldn't work for you, she looks too much like the little girl you and Sophie should have had. You need to protect her though, will you promised you'll do that?"

"I promise," he voice nearly broke as he said it. He'd been ignoring, with everything in him, the resemblance between his dead wife and Emily. Funny, it had taken his mother's rantings to make the point stick.

"What was that," his father asked as he came on the phone.

"I'm not sure. Where is she?"

"Your mother?"

"No," Lorenzo snapped, annoyed. "The other woman on the phone. Yes, my mother!"

"I had Maria take her to bed."

"How did she find the picture? God! What would make her say those things?"

"I don't know about the picture, maybe from my study. As far as the other, she hasn't been feeling well, you know that, but I thought she was getting better these past couple of days. She seemed to be living more in the real world. I just don't know."

Lorenzo sat for a minute trying to decide what, exactly, he was feeling. Hurt. Anger. Sadness. Fear? "She looks like her."

"What?" Lorenzo was whispering now, to low for an aging man to hear.

"Emily…"

"So you're on a first name basis with…"

"She looks like Sophie," Lorenzo interrupted his father. He didn't realize he was yelling until the guard outside the door looked into to see if everything was okay. "Why does this girl look like my dead wife?"

"It's a coincidence." I had to be. Didn't it?

And Lorenzo knew he had to drop the bomb he'd been holding in for days. He hadn't sent his father the whole file for fear of having to have this exact conversation. "Her biological mother's name was Paige."

Paige. Sophie. Sophie Paige Alcazar. "No. Sophie is—was," he corrected, "too smart she wouldn't take that risk. Using her own middle name as an alias she wouldn't—What am I talking about? She wouldn't leave you! Us! She wouldn't allow you to think she was dead. She loved you."

"I thought so, but maybe not. I don't know. I'm looking into Emily's background. She has an _aunt_ Corey and I know that Sophie did not have any sisters, so maybe this woman can help us figure out the truth."

"Lorenzo," Adriano broached the subject carefully. His son was already at his wits end, but he needed to know, "could this girl be your child? My grandchild?"

"No—maybe—I don't know. I just don't know. I wish I did."

"Okay. Don't tell your mother about this. We'll just let her think your looking further into this to make her happy. There's no reason to steal another child from her life."

"Of course," he responded. He didn't want to know what his mother would do if she found this information, she already been unpredictable lately. Losing time. Running out in front of cars. Play with guns. Guns. He winced as a memory of Emily, shot, bloody, and lying in his arms flashed through his mind. "She was shot."

"I heard." Lorenzo breathed a sigh of relief that his father knew he who was talking about and he didn't have to do more explaining.

"I was there—I held her in my arms as the color drained from her face," He quickly closed his eyes against the memory, it already kept him up at night. "She reminded me of Sophie when she had the miscarriage, trying so hard to be strong, but still so broken and scared."

"Sophie was a strong woman, but yes, that was a horrible time. She wanted that little boy so badly."

"We all did."

"Imagine if we're being given another chance."

"Yeah," Lorenzo was not so enthused. "I need to go, there's somewhere I have to be tomorrow, it's important."

"Of course," his father answered, already distracted by the idea of an heir. "I'll speak with you later son."

Lorenzo leaned back into his chair and, for the first time, allowed his mind to wonder into a world where he had a child. A beautiful little girl. What would his life had been like if that was the way it worked out, if Sophie had a baby and lived and they raised her together as he'd planned for so long. And what would his father have expected of that child? That young girl. Would she have ended up exactly where Emily Quartermaine stood today? Living—surviving—in a world controlled by guns and violence and men with no respect for their female counterparts. Was her destiny mapped out before she was even born?

And what if she was his child? What if Emily Quartermaine was actually Emily Alcazar? Would that change her mind, would she love him, would she come willingly into the arms of her waiting family? Or would she stay as she was, out in the cold with no understanding of the power of the blood that coursed through her veins. And the biggest question of all, the one that haunted him from the second he'd seen her mother's name glaring at him from the file in his hands: Would she be better off not knowing? Would she be safer if she stayed as she was and had no blood ties to the violent world that he had been absorbed in from the time he was a child? He didn't know, but he meant to find out.

Lorenzo reached for the phone on his desk and called in the guard from outside his door.

"Yes, sir?"

"I need you to get a number for me."

"Sir?"

"A number. Just a number I'll handle the rest on my own."

"Yes, sir. Whose?"

"Thomas Marks."

* * *

She slipped quietly out of bed and smiled back at the man sleeping soundly. _God. Was there anything more beautiful? Yes,_ she thought as she tiptoed down the hallway and stopped at another room. _The little girl was more beautiful. Just a little bit more perfect than the man was. _She watched silently for a few minutes as the little girl slept with the book she'd fallen asleep listening to cradled in her arms. After she had her fill of adoring the perfect creatures in her life she continued on her way downstairs, stopping to pick up the phone off its cradle, and stepped outside onto the terrace. She dialed the numbers and waited patiently for the voice on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Did I wake you?"

"No," Emily smiled as she looked out on the city of Port Charles from the terrace of the penthouse. "I was actually thinking of calling you. How's Tony?"

"You know Tony," Marisol Marciano grinned to herself, as she looked out at Las Vegas. Not at all a similar view. "He's been fighting Danny for years, but they were cousins and he's mourning him like he'd mourn family."

"He's a good guy."

"Tell him that."

"I tried," Emily's mind flashed back to the night she was shot and she shook the visions of being covered in Tony or Sonny's blood away before they could take hold. "He told you about his worries too?"

"He's been like this for months. I'm hoping that now that Danny is gone he'll calm down a little. God, that's a horrible thought, but I just can't seem to care. Danny Marciano caused so much pain these past few years. I'm relieved he's dead."

"You know how I feel about Danny. Some people just need to die."

"He was sweeter when he was younger," Marisol smiled, her voice a little wistful as she remember watching from afar as the two Marciano cousins ran roughshod over Las Vegas, Nevada, "but between his mother and father he was ruined. Anyway, this isn't why I called."

"Is he pissed," Emily winced waiting for the answer. She had told Danny that she didn't know she was Emily Quartermaine and she knew he believed it, but that didn't make up for the months she'd spent, supposedly, dating Sonny Corinthos and not calling to check in.

"No," her friend smiled with the same love in her voice that was ever-present, "just confused."

"I wish I could have told him before. Both of you. You guys have been so great to me over the years." Emily could feel the guilt seeping into her bones and make its home there, where it had for so many years. She thought she'd gotten rid of it, but between lying to her family, her friends, and trying to hold herself together for everyone involved it had returned with a vengeance.

"Sweetie we love you and you know that. And you've been great to us too. By the way, Zoe loved the gift you sent her."

"Yeah?" Emily's mood brightened considerably. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find form fitting leather pants and a leather jacket for a little girl."

"Oh yes I would. I think Danny was happier than she was, because it meant he wouldn't have to look anymore," she smiled at the memory of Zoe opening up the box and screaming happily as Tony sighed in relief. "She thinks she's so cool, looking like Corey Wilson."

"Oh God, Mar, does she know?"

"She was remarkably understanding. She looked right at Tony and asked if you looked the same and you acted the same. He said yes and she said, _then I don't care what her name is_."

"From the mouths of babes."

"She wants to know when you're gonna come visit."

"I don't even know when I'm gonna have to time see my own family. Things are really getting crazy around here."

"That's pretty much what Tony told her. Don't worry, as long as she has her leathers to show off she'll love you forever."

"That's great… Did he tell her about Danny?"

"No," Marisol blew out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "She doesn't even remember him. It would have just confused her. She was worried about you though; you'll have to call when she's awake."

"Yes, mam."

Marisol laughed. "I hear you've got a new little girl in your life too.'

"Bella. She's so sweet, not quite as outgoing as Zoe, but I think she'll get over that once she gets used to us. Right now she pretty much just follows me, Sonny, and Michael around."

"Yeah. We'll come back to Sonny Corinthos in a second, but for now I'm gonna offer my two cents as a mother. Don't tip toe around her for too long. Try and keep her life normal. Sign her up for school; include her in play dates with Michael and his friends, if they don't mind. And whatever you do, don't smother her. Don't let her get too used to always having you two around either, she's needs stability, but having you around all the time now will make her want it later and with the lives you guys lead it won't always be possible."

"Yes mother. We've both been home at night, to read to her and eat dinner, watch some TV, but during the days she's been following Michael's schedule and they both love it."

"Give her some things of her own to do to, though."

"Apparently she draws while Michael is at baseball practice. I'm thinking of getting her into an art class at that time."

"Perfect. Maybe, after things are calmer, Zoe and I will come for a visit."

"We'd both love that."

"Good." Marisol waited a beat and then moved onto a digging expedition, "So…about Mr. Corinthos?"

"Don't!" Emily laughed at the tone in her friend's voice. The Marciano's had been trying to fix her up forever.

"Don't what?" Marisol grinned mischievously into the phone. "Ask about the new, very powerful man in your life? How could I not?"

"It's not like that."

"Oh. So you aren't living with him, helping him raise his little sister, and working for him—FOR FREE!"

"No, I am, but…"

"But what?"

"But..." Emily jumped when she heard the door to the terrace open and Sonny looked at her questioningly. "Nothing."

"So what is he like?"

Sonny looked at Emily and mouthed, _who is it?_ as he pulled her back into the penthouse.

"Mar—Tony's wife," she whispered with her hand over the phone. And he smiled back—Emily had told him about her.

"He's like a guy," Emily answered taking her hand off the phone and speaking to her friend, ever conscious of Sonny's presence. "Any other guy."

"Come on girl. I've heard he's gorgeous."

Emily turned around and looked at Sonny as he moved to pour himself a drink and wait for her answer. "He's okay." Sonny raised his eyebrows and laughed as she stuck out her tongue at him. "He's got a good enough body, though I've never seen him workout. He's got these amazing dimples that will make you do most anything you don't want to and brown eyes that I could just fall into forever."

Marisol grinned as she settled into the image. "So he's an M&M?"

"Yeah, he's got that melts in your mouth quality about him." Emily laughed as Sonny feigned applause and began moving towards her like he was hunting his prey. "But he's controlling as all heck, sometimes I want to smack the sarcastic grin of his face."

"Oh, honey, they're all like that."

"Maybe I should switch sides—Wanna be a lesbian with me?"

"I would but, alas, I'm stuck on this one guy and I just don't think you can do what he does."

"Good point, they do serve their purposes. Don't they?" Emily grinned as she closed the gap between her and Sonny and locked eyes with him. She wasn't sure she'd be able to hold his stare without crumbling on the floor, so she reached out for the drink he held in his hands and took a swallow. She nearly melted into a pool of desire when she noticed him following the path the auburn liquid was taking down her throat and her body.

"So is he as good as they say?"

Emily raised her eyebrows at the question and smiled lazily, "I don't know. How good do they say he is?"

"Very."

"Hold on a second," Emily put her hand over the phone again. "Are you as good as they say you are?"

Sonny shot her a predatory grinned before he bent down to her ear. "Sweetheart, I'm better."

"Well," Emily smirked mischievously as she took her hand back off the phone, "he'd probably say he's better, but I think that's just cockiness talking."

"It's something talking and I'd bet you're about half right when you say cockiness."

Emily threw her head back and laughed and she pulled away from Sonny, who was trying to take the phone from her hand. She snatched it back as quickly as she could and said, "Mar, I've got to go."

"Alright sweetie. I'll talk to you later and tell than man of yours that if he's gonna eavesdrop on girl talk he should try to keep his mouth shut—he'll learn more."

"I will," Emily hung up and turned back to Sonny, who was leaning back on the counter he'd just set his glass on. "Marisol Marciano says that you should keep your mouth shut."

Sonny smiled. "Somehow I doubt those were her exact words."

"You don't know what she said. She could have been bashing you, telling me to stay away."

"Doubtful." Sonny walked over and brushed the hair out of her face that had fallen when she was trying to keep the phone from him. "I woke up and you were gone. Aren't you the same person who begged me to stay with her?"

"Begged? Yeah right, I barely had to ask you were…"

"Shut up." Sonny put two fingers over her lips to cement the request. The demand.

"Whatever you say Sonnyboy," she smiled up at him defiantly and continued on. "Bite me."

She heard the deep growl in his chest and would have stepped back if he hadn't had a firm grasp on her arms. "Tell me when and where."

Emily threw her head back and laughed. "Yeah?"

"Uh huh."

"I'll remember that."

"Good. Hey," he pulled her head up to face him after she dropped it to hide her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"They've been there for me," she smiled shyly and Sonny knew that they were moving from flirting territory into something else. Everyday he got a bigger and bigger glimpse into who she really was.

"Who sweetheart?"

"Tony. Mar." She shook her head out of his hand and looked back down at her feet. "When I first met Tony he was a target. I was supposed to use him to get to Danny. Well obviously that wasn't going to work, but I flirted with him mercilessly. He and Mar were having a tough time and I…" She looked up at him with those striking brown eyes and he knew what she was going to say.

"I don't need to hear this sweetheart—I don't want to," his voice faltered as he said it and fear crept up into his heart. It would be too easy to be angry with her and he knew it. Too easy to see what she was talking about as just another facet of her work with the FBI and wonder when she touched him if it was because she wanted to or because she had to, to make this all work. He didn't want to go there. Not now, not when he was getting so close to wanting her—needing her.

"You need to hear this," she interrupted his train of thought and made him focus on her. She wanted him to hear her, to listen to her. "He was having trouble with Mar and he was such a great guy—they were legally separated. And I hadn't been around a great guy in suck a long time. One night, after a business meeting, we were really drunk and ended up at my hotel."

"Dammit Em. I don't want to know this!"

"No," she reached out for him and was momentarily shocked when he pulled back out of her reach, but then realized what she was saying to him and continued on. "We didn't—We didn't sleep together."

Sonny looked up and noticed her hand shaking and her lips quivering. He wanted to reach out and pull her to him, to tell her that it was okay. He didn't care. And it hit him as he listened to her ramble on and on trying to explain. He really didn't care. It was her past. He wanted her future.

"He loves Mar, loved her even then," Emily continued to speak without looking at him, she didn't notice the acceptance, the trust the crossed his face as she rambled. "He told her what happened that night—what almost happened. And she was still nice to me when we met; she invited me over for dinner. She became my only real female friend over the past few years. What would make her do that?"

"Maybe," Sonny smiled as he framed her face with his hands in looked into her eyes, "she saw what I see—a beautiful, caring woman, who would tell me this story even though I had no right to hear it and no need to know it. Maybe she saw a woman who worries so much about other people and their feelings that she forgets to experience her own. Maybe she saw you."

"He stopped it," was all she could say as she leaned into his shoulder and tears streamed down her face. "I would have—I might have done it. Sonny I'm not a good person."

"Look at me," her pulled her body away from his, but didn't force her to look up. It had to be her choice.

"What?"

He waited until her eyes met his and simply said, "I'm no angel"

"Yeah, but you don't know what I've done. Sometimes I looked in the mirror and I'm not sure who's looking back at me."

"Sweetheart that's everyone, not just you. Do you think I don't have rough days or that Jason and Bren and Lucky and any of the people who love you don't have bad days? No, you aren't perfect, but I don't want perfect. You are more than good enough for me."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he smiled answering not only her, but also himself. "More than. Come on, trust me."

"I do. I didn't mean to, but I do. But Sonny you can't pretend that it's all okay. Just be careful."

"Why?"

"Because thinking you know who I am doesn't mean you'll be able to deal with it when you see it."

"I'll deal," Sonny pulled on her hands and started dragging her upstairs.

"I hope so," she grimaced and then made herself believe it would be okay. By the time he was pushing her up the stairs she nearly had herself convinced that she'd finally done it. Finally found a place that could be home. Who knew it would be in Port Charles, after all these years, she might have found home with a group of people as screwed up as she was.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA Fallen Angel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

Three weeks later….

Luke Spencer leaned over the cherry wood bar in his club, the one he wouldn't allow Skye to talk him into selling, and handed his son a beer. They were here for business, the bloody-money makin' type, the type he wasn't supposed to be involved in. The type his fiancé would kill him for conducting. But, hey, when family called, he answered. And Lucky, Jason, Sonny and Emily, the sweetheart, were family, whether Skye approved or not. Anyway, she'd get over the whole playin' things safe kick after the baby popped out. Hopefully.

"Hello gentlemen. Hey sweetheart," Luke smiled as Jason, Sonny, and Emily entered the club. The gorgeous brunette was flanked by both men and Luke smiled aimlessly as he wondered what would happen if someone tried to get between her and either of them. Didn't matter, just as long as it wasn't him or one of his, it wasn't his problem.

"Hey Luke," Emily smiled as she leaned across the counter top and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Why does he get to call you sweetheart?"

Emily grinned as she turned back to Sonny and stuck her tongue out at him, "I like him more than I like you."

"Spencer charm—" Lucky shrugged as everyone turned to look at him.

"What are you talking about," Emily plopped down next to him and pinched his cheek; "I don't like you either."

"It skips a generation."

"Traitor," Lucky grunted under his breathe as he looked at his father and rubbed his cheek. He hated when she pinched him, sometimes he didn't think she knew her own strength. And, unfortunately, Gia had a tendency to mistake the red marks for lipstick at first sight, which usually led to more red marks. _And great make-up sex_, he reminded himself as he grinned at Emily.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Business gentlemen. Business."

"Alright," Luke smiled and walked around the bar, grabbed a few beers, and took a seat at a table with everyone else. "Don't get your panties in a twist."

"Don't you be worrying about my panties or I'll tell my big sister and she'll beat you up."

"Doubtful with that stomach sticking out."

"Fine. I'll let my big brother beat you up then," Emily rested her head on Jason's shoulder and smiled up at him. "Handle my light work for me, would you big brother?"

"Children. Are we going to have to talk with you two separately so that we can actually get some work done?" Sonny looked between Luke and Emily and watched them both shrug and flash him winning smiles. This was definitely going to be a long night.

"Alright, I just say we line up everyone in town, ask them if they are good or bad and all of those who answer bad get a bullet in the head."

Luke smiled at Emily as she took a sip of her beer and laid out her plan. "Gotta love a woman with a little bloodlust and a plan."

"That's my motto."

Sonny grimaced at Lucky and then looked to Jason as they both realized that putting Luke and Lucky Spencer and Emily Quartermaine in a room with beer and each other was not the best decision they'd ever made.

Emily smiled at Jason and Sonny, God she loved screwing with them, but she wasn't sure how long they would last like this and she was safe and Luke was safe so they'd both probably take their annoyance and frustration out on Lucky.

"Alright," she leaned forward onto the table, "let's get serious here. We need to figure out who our enemies are and how to handle them. Also, we should start making up a list of allies, just in case this gets messy. So where do we start?"

"Faith and Jax."

"Why them," Jason asked. He knew the answer to the question, but it had become his job to train Lucky and he wanted to be sure that the kid was certain about what he was saying before he let the words fly from his mouth.

"Easy. First, they will be the easiest to handle if, as Emily suggested, this does all go south. They are the only ones who have to worry about being stuck with us; they live here, their business is here and unless we are all dead they will have to deal with one of us. Second, Faith has a lot of money coming in from the Haunted Star right now and she knows that Skye really wants her gone, so she has to stay on dad's good side."

"Alright, good, what else?"

Lucky glanced around the table, unsure; he thought he'd covered all of the bases.

"Legit business," Emily glanced at Lucky. She hated the way Jason tested him in front of Sonny and Luke, she understood it because Tommy had done it to her, but she still hated it.

"Right. Right. Jax needs to keep up some sort of front, otherwise he could loose out on some of the more respectable business ventures he's got in the works."

"Plus he's just a pansy," Luke smiled as everyone else at the table stared at him. "What? You know I'm right, it's not like he's here. Anyway, I think our best bet would be to find some way to keep little Sorel in check too. We're all pretty sure that he's in Nikolai's pocket so it might be nice to tear a little hole in it and let the bastard fall through. Could even weaken Nikolai's bargaining position."

"I agree," Emily nodded at Luke, hoping that he would back her up in her next suggestion. This was gonna be the hard part. "Also, I'm thinking, maybe I should get started with getting into Nikolai's good graces."

"Why?"

"Because, my darling brother, I think he knows who I am. At the very least he suspects, otherwise he wouldn't have been keeping tabs on me before I disappeared. His obsession with me or whatever it is could be an asset to us, especially if he doesn't know that I know who he is."

"It could also weaken us. You're asking us to allow…"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on. I'm not asking you to ALLOW me to do anything. I'm telling you that I am going to see if I can get close to him and get us a little leverage. This is happening whether you agree or not," Emily interrupted indignantly. She expected Sonny to pitch a fit maybe even Lucky, who still saw her as his little friend sometimes, but not Jason. Though, hindsight and all, she should have realized that big brothers never like their little sisters warming up to mobsters. Hypocrites, the lot of them.

"Like hell it is. First, you don't know if he knows who you are or not. Second, you don't know if he cares, he may have just been planning on killing you before. And third, I don't trust you with this."

"You don't trust me!"

"Down girl," Luke gave Emily a sympathetic nod. "That's not what he meant and you know it. Now, before you two start spouting off at the mouth and saying things you don't mean, let's take a step back and think about this. Emily, sweetheart, when you say _Nikolai's good graces_, what do you mean?"

"I mean," she looked at Jason pointedly, "that maybe I should pretend not to be quite as repulsed by him as I am. I mean, maybe, I should ask him if he has any work to throw my way so that I can separate myself from my boyfriend and brother. And believe it or not those are things I can handle. He wouldn't risk killing me now, even if that is his endgame. There is too much pressure and I'm willing to bet that no matter what he knows, he's just self-absorbed enough to believe that he can control me."

"Okay that doesn't sound too bad to me. Sonny what do you think."

"I think she's right. Wait," Sonny held his hand up to Jason before he could interrupt. "I get that you're worried, I am too, but this may be the only way we can see his cards. We can, and this is not negotiable, send a guard with her whenever they meet. He would expect that and it offers her more protection than just her own skills."

"Fine. Great. Send a guard with me, send twenty, but let's all get serious here. At the last summit we all decided that we'd wait two months, negotiable, and see how things were working out. I will almost bet my life on Nikolai weaseling his way into having that meeting at his compound and between him, Sorel, Faith, and Jax, we don't have many people left on our side. And that's not even mentioning this ghost player that you two," she pointed at Jason and Sonny, "think may be joining the game. We need more information and more power on our side otherwise we're screwed."

"Good show young lady. So, I think we all know she's right. Here is what I propose. I, and maybe my lovely little wife, will work on Faith and Jax, see what we can pull out of that petulant pair. Lucky and Jason take Sorel, because let's face it he's terrified of Jason and the two of them are really good at good cop, bad cop. And little Miss Emily with her beau in tow, will handle the ever elusive Andrejs Nikolai. He'll want to flaunt whatever friendship or relationship he develops with Emily right in Sonny's face as long as Emily doesn't step over the line and show any real interest in him, he'll be confused and annoyed enough to keep playing. But," he looked intently at Emily, "if you push too hard or lead him too far he may sniff you out. So stay coy. You girls are good at that stuff right?"

"Oh yea," she snorted. "Great. They teach it to us in second grade, right after batting the lashes and strategically dropping pens and pencils."

"Well then you should be well practiced."

"Bite me."

"We've had this conversation before," Sonny flashed his dimples at Emily across the table leaving everyone else feeling mildly uncomfortable as the sexual tension in the room reached a peak.

"Uh yeah," Luke grunted. "So we all have our assignments. Angels, get to work."

"Thank you, Charlie." Emily shrugged as everyone at the table, save Luke, stared at her. "What I had Nickelodeon as a child, I saw repeats. Plus, the movies. Geez, respond to one out of date reference to a television show and everyone thinks your nuts. How about looking at him like a freak, he's the one that called you Angels."

"Spencer charm."

* * *

"Who the hell do you think you are? Who do the hell do you think I am? I'm not one of your little errand boys that you can summon to you whenever you need to talk." The two men sized each other up accordingly. Neither trusted the other, but they both needed to learn to, because very soon their lives would become intertwined and neither could afford to loose the battle that was ahead.

"I understand that."

"Do you?"

"Yes," Lorenzo Alcazar rolled his eyes at Thomas Marks, much like a parent dealing with a petulant child. He stepped down off the stairs that led to the docks and took a seat on one of the benches. As an afterthought he realized he'd need to have his suit cleaned, wood chips did not go well with _Armani_. "I wouldn't have contacted you if it wasn't important."

"What do you want?"

"I believe we are in a similar predicament. We both need the trust that the Corinthos organization is so unwilling to give. And I believe you will soon loose your strong hold over Ms. Quartermaine. With Lucky, Jason and Sonny in her life, she will no longer need you."

"I don't need her to need me," Tommy grimaced at the tone of his voice. He needed to gain control of the situation, but usually when he dealt with a man like Lorenzo Alcazar he had the home court advantage. No such luck tonight, the docks of Port Charles were neutral, if not dangerous, territory for both men.

"Really? How can you be so sure?"

"This isn't a meeting," Tommy shrugged as he took the seat next to Alcazar, might as well get comfortable, "it's a digging expedition. You can't figure Emily out can you?"

"I don't need to figure her out." Now it was Alcazar's turn to feel like he was in a mud fight with another child on the playground. How did this girl manage to put him in a situation where he was scrounging for information from someone he would usually regard with mild distaste?

"Yeah, but your smart enough to know something is about to go down. And more than that, you're smart enough to know that you're involved. Let me guess, you need to report back to daddy about whose side to take. Am I getting closer?"

"No. I just want to be sure about the side I've already taken. It seems to me that everyone is just taking Ms. Quartermaine's word on where her loyalties lie. I'd like proof. For instance, does Sonny Corinthos know about your previous relationship with his girlfriend?"

Tommy winced, _previous relationship?_ _How good were this guy's connections?_ "I'm her lawyer. No more, no less."

"Really? I have a contact in Zurich that believes you two were very friendly at a party thrown by Maurizio Benison a year ago."

"Your contact is mistaken."

"No, he isn't," Lorenzo responded quickly, he'd done his homework. "Did you know that Mr. Benison has a very interesting fetish? He likes to watch his guest in compromising positions. He usually keeps the video tape."

"Good for him," Tommy felt his stomach lurch as he realized exactly where this was going; he needed to recover, quickly. "The only thing his freakish cameras would have caught was two, drunk, adults getting a little carried away and leaving a party together."

"And I'm sure that anyone with a brain can imagine what happened once you reached your hotel."

"Imagination isn't proof and even if it was, that was a year ago, it doesn't matter now."

"You'd think." Lorenzo leaned back on the bench all of the sudden very comfortable with his bargaining position. He had more information that he could use if he had to, the point of this meeting was two-fold and he planned on getting what he needed before he left. "However, Mr. Corinthos might be interested to know that you once had a sexual relationship with the woman sharing his bed. You two could easily be working together to take over his organization."

Tommy laughed easily. "That's your theory? We're trying to take over his organization. Try selling him that story and see if he buys it."

"I don't need to." _Time for the next bomb._ "I know he won't buy it. You two never had a sexual relationship, well at least not outside of that night. Tell me something Mr. Marks, does the FBI frown on agents getting involved with…what is Emily? A trainee?"

_Shit!_ "I'm sure they do? How did you get that information?"

"Which? The part about your one night together or the part about you working for the FBI? Don't worry," Lorenzo breathed a sigh of relief. It hadn't been very reliable information and he was glad that Tommy didn't try to deny it. Then he'd have been back a square one. "No one else will have it. I got it from a contact I made many years ago and he only works with me."

"How can you be sure?"

"I just am."

"Fine. What do you know?"

"This isn't tit-for-tat Mr. Marks, I have information that could ruin Sonny Corinthos and get both your and your little friend killed. We aren't making deals here. What do you know?"

"Oh yes we are," Tommy's temper warred with the other part of him that knew that Alcazar couldn't share his information with anyone else. The organization, or whatever the hell the were calling themselves, wouldn't be as easy as he was about proof and Alcazar made it very clear he wasn't going to give up his source. "I have way more to loose in this situation and, either way, I could have a bullet in your head before any of the guards you've got hiding around this place would know what happened."

"Then you'd be dead too."

"And Emily would be safe. You really wanna test my devotion to keeping that girl alive?"

"No," Alcazar inwardly smiled. Emily had surrounded herself with at least one, probably more, person willing to put his life on the line for hers. That was good to know. "First, you need to know that only I have ALL of this information. No one else."

"Fine," Tommy took that to mean that the prodigal son had not been completely forthcoming with his father. "I understand."

"No. You don't, but you will. I know that Ms. Quartermaine never lost her memory." Sometimes he had to remind himself to only think of her as a Quartermaine. If he thought of her as Emily, as Sophie's daughter, as his daughter, he'd loose all prospective. "I know that these past few years she's been playing Corey Wilson for the FBI. And I assume that you aren't after the Corinthos organization, but rather, Andrejs Nikolai. I'm not sure how you got her to agree to this set up, though I can imagine."

"Can you?" Tommy was taken back by the disgust in Lorenzo Alcazar's voice. What did he care?

"Yes. And the next part of our conversation doesn't go past us."

"Are you asking me to lie to her?"

"No. I want you to stay quiet until we are both sure of the truth. Then, if you like, we will go to her together with the information we have. Deal?"

"Sure."

"My wife, Sophie, was murdered many years ago…"

"I know this already," Tommy interrupted, anxious to figure out what the other mans stake in this situation was.

"I'm sure you do, but I assume you want me to start from the beginning and even if you don't, I have no interest in repeating myself later."

"Sure, whatever, continue with your little story."

"How about this," Lorenzo decided to expedite the shock. "My wife was Sophie Paige Alcazar and she died about 24 years and nine months ago."

"Shit"

"Erudite, as usual."

"What?"

"Nothing," Lorenzo grimaced. This man had been his daughter's biggest influence in the previous years? Perfect.

Tommy shrugged and continued on. He knew that erudite meant educated, but he didn't give a shit what Lorenzo Alcazar thought about his communication skills. The man killed people for god sake. "So," he grinned, "you're what the FBI has been hiding."

"Excuse me."

"Its how they got Em to help them. They told her they'd give her information on her father and family."

"You're telling me the always superior _Federal Bureau of Investigations_ blackmailed a young woman into helping them by keeping information about her family from her?"

"Pretty much."

"Despicable."

"Pretty much. So why'd your wife fake her death—I'm assuming here—and what does Andrejs Nikolai have to do with it?"

"You don't know?"

"No. I know less than Emily does about her mother."

"Why am I talking to you then? I need information. Proof. I can't take your hunches and my hopes to her and expect she'll believe them."

"I can get the information, I just haven't yet."

"Why?"

"I tried to a while back," Tommy ran a hand over his face in exasperation. If Alcazar didn't like the FBI before he definitely wasn't going to be singing their praises now. "I got caught. They told me if I looked again that they'd pull me from the case and drop the operation so I promised Emily I'd leave it alone."

"And now?"

"And now I'm wiser and have better connections. They won't catch me this time."

"And you have no reason to keep your promise to my—to Ms. Quartermaine."

"You know what? Drop the high and mighty attitude. It was your idea to keep all of this a secret from her. The fact of the matter is that she'd probably be able to help if we told her and it might keep her from trying to kill…"

"Excuse me," Lorenzo interrupted. "Kill who?"

"Shit. My mouth always gets me in trouble. I think—I can't be sure—but I think she's pretty dead set on killing Nikolai. She looks back on her life and she puts most of the blame for how it has turned out on him."

"She's probably right, but I won't allow her to kill in cold blood."

"Great. Fine. We agree." Tommy just decided to leave out the part where his little girl was about the furthest thing from an angel that existed on this earth and killing in cold blood could probably be counted as the least of her sins. Well, depending on what one considered cold blood. She most always believed she had a good reason for her actions. "Listen. I'd love to stay here and hash out Emily's life with you, but I need to go. I've got to check in with work and I have a few people I need to contact before trying to steal files from the FBI, but I'll be in touch."

"As will I."

* * *

_The conversation in this next part is a little, uh, mature in places. You've been warned._

Candy, Sharon Tinsley to her friends and family, slithered through the crowd of horny men and into the backroom of Byron James' club. Whorehouse, she thought, was more like it, but it was easier to tell herself she was a stripper and the rest was just gravy—more respectable somehow, though she wasn't sure how. She loved nights like this, nights when her _friend_ was in town. They were not only profitable, but sometimes highly enjoyable.

"I'm back," she smiled as she leaned over in front of him allowing for a great view of the ass that she knew he would later bruise.

"I see. Got your drink?"

"Yes sir," she grinned back at him. He'd been coming to the _Velvet Rope_, ridiculous name if anyone had asked her, for over a year and from the first time he walked through the door up till now he'd always asked for her and always got a little bit of a show before his _friend _came and always waited for her after her shift. And at the end of the night when she walked out the doors and to her car, there was a limo waiting and the promise of a ride back in the morning. Sometimes after they got to his hotel he would bruise her, sometimes not; it all depended, she supposed, on his mood. Tonight seemed good, but that could always change after he talked with the ever elusive friend. She'd offered him a dance once and never made that mistake again, the look on his face scared her more than any pain that Andrejs Nikolai had ever offered. No, the friend was definitely the scarier of the two.

"Thristy?" She turned and smiled at him, allowing the sweat from the glass to slide down her body. She shook her head as he grunted. No, at least not for alcohol, that would come later too. "You're quiet tonight. Something wrong?"

"No," He picked her up, his pale hands contrasting almost beautifully with her tanned skin, and set her on his lap. "I'm just thinking. Have I been ignoring you?"

"I'd love to stand here and listen to you whisper sweet nothings to the whore on your lap, Nikolai, but do you think we could talk about business," Candy heard the voice from the door and almost automatically jerked back in reaction. She generally tried to be out of the private room before he came in, it was just easier that way.

"You're early," Nikolai made no move to release the woman on his lap though he could feel her struggle under the strain of the other mans gaze.

"Your peon told me eight."

"Sorel," he grunted and released his prisoner, "Idiot."

_Candy_ stood, straightened her skirt and held in the venomous glared that wanted to escape onto her face. Being a whore was one thing, having some rich asshole call her one was completely different. If he'd been anyone else, if they'd been anywhere else. If, she thought bitterly, she'd been anything else, but a whore then there might have been a problem, but she wasn't. After properly scolding herself she leaned over, gave Nikolai a kiss and stepped out of the room as the two men greeted each other and for the first time she heard the name of the friend.

"Trevor," Nikolas greeted his associated just loud enough for the stripper to hear, just violently enough to make that point that he had no problem outing his partner in crime if he insulted the woman again.

Trevor Lansing grinned and sat down next to Nikolai. "Do you have a problem with me calling a whore a whore?"

"No, I have a problem with you pissing off the woman I am planning on fucking. She's less receptive when she's angry and I'm not in the mood to bruise her tonight."

Trevor glanced at Nikolai, slightly annoyed, but mostly amused. He'd never understand how men, who were otherwise intelligent, could become so obsessed with a woman that they'd allow it to cloud their judgment. In the time he'd known Andrejs Nikolai, he'd seen the single minded obsession with a woman drive him from being a brilliant business man to a petulant child and it still didn't cease to amaze. His affair with Adella Corinthos had shaped his anger, honed it, made it into something that allowed him to step into a room with any man three times his size and feel no fear. Where love made some men weak and obsessed, it had made him stronger and if not for her bastard son it would have also made him happier, but that ship had sailed and he had plans to make up for the loss. None of them involved finding a whore that looked like her and pounding her into a bed.

"I hear Sonny and his organization received nice present in their last shipment."

"Yes, they did," Trevor leaned forward and took a sip of the drink that was sitting on the table. Bourbon, he assumed, Nikolai's favorite. "I hear Ms. Quartermaine received a bullet in her body."

Nikolai grunted. The soldier who had made that mistake ended up at the bottom of a river after having his knee caps smashed in and throat slit. The target had been her friend, Tony Marciano, but now that Danny was dead, that target was no longer important. "Yes. The person responsible has already paid for that egregious mistake."

"I imagine," Trevor responded nonchalantly. He didn't particularly care about the girl, except as a tool to get to Sonny Corinthos. She was the best friend, ex-best friend he reminded himself, of his son's fiancé, but that made no difference to him. Though keeping the girl quiet and calm was in his best interest where his son was concerned, for now.

"So what is the meeting about?"

"The next phase of this operation, everyone we need is in place, now all that's left is to move. Ms. Quartermaine will come to you, probably under the guise of wanting to pull away from Mr. Corinthos and stay freelance. You'll accept of course, tell her that you will throw any work her way that you can find, and you will. Don't put her into anything too dangerous, I want them all comfortable, I don't want them thinking that there is any possibility of a double cross. At least not anymore than they are going to be thinking about anyway."

"Don't worry," Nikolai interrupted. "I can handle the girl maybe even turn her."

"Doubtful, but if you want to try go ahead, she is the least of our worries. I want you to keep you men watching Mr. Morgan though."

"Morgan's an idiot."

"Morgan may not be reaching heights where intelligence is concerned, but he's a businessman. Don't let the silence fool you, the man was born into business and memory or no, it's in his blood. Blood tells."

"Excuse me," Nikolai looked up and for the first time since they'd met Trevor noticed a look of shock on the other mans face. "What did you just say?"

"Blood tells. Why?"

"Nothing," he answered thoughtfully, suddenly guarded. "I know someone who used to say that same thing. _Blood tells_. I never put much stock in it myself, my biological father was subordinate to power and my mother was a whore." Nikolai thought of Sophie, thought of her conversations about her daughter and her family, thought of her threats. She'd always said that blood could tell and always assumed that her little girl, the little girl that everyone thought—assumed—was Emily Quartermaine, would find hers.

"It's a common thing to say among the powerful. Most like to think that if they have made something of themselves their children will too. That's not what it means; the phrase isn't pertaining to only the parent, but the whole family, uncles, siblings, cousins, grandparents and on. That's how blood tells."

"I understand."

"Good," Trevor Lansing stood and eyed Nikolai warily, for the first time unsure of the alliance he had made. For the first time he worried about whether or not this man could be trusted. In the end it didn't matter too much, he had no more of an understanding of the endgame then Trevor's own son, but both were important and both needed to be kept in their place if his plan was going to work. "Don't underestimated Mr. Morgan or the Corinthos organization and keep me updated."

"And you," Nikolai responded, "shouldn't underestimate your anonymity, if you're right and the Corinthos organization is as powerful as you think, then they may already know that I'm not the only person they have to worry about."

"I know. I'm going to have to make myself known soon, but as long as they don't know we are working together then everything should work out fine."

The two men parted ways and Nikolai waited, as usual, for Candy at the end of the night. The next morning she had to call in sick and again the day after. Her thighs were bruised, her nose had been bloodied and he ignored her as she screamed out the safe word they'd agreed upon. The thirty thousand he'd rewarded her with made it all worth it, but she worried about the next time. He'd been getting more and more angry each time he saw her and she feared not only for herself, but for the person he was harboring his hatred for. When she confessed her sins, she made sure to throw in an extra prayer for Sophie and Emily, whoever they were.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

"Hey, munchkin are you ready?" Emily ran frantically around Sonny's bedroom looking for something that a mother, or girlfriend of a little girl's brother, would wear to a first day of school. She wanted to curse Sonny for leaving two days before on an _important_ trip to the island. Important, yeah right. So important that he didn't hear anything about it until a week ago when they found out that parents were supposed to bring their children to the first day of school to meet the teachers. Emily seriously considered sending Johnny with a note saying that he'd be the one picking her up and dropping her of, _and lurking around the school looking for trouble_, she lamented to herself, so they could just deal with him. However, sending a girl to her first day of school with a bodyguard, and no parents, in tow was sure to set her up for a lifetime of sideways glances.

"Bella, get a move on. We've got fifteen minutes before we're supposed to be out of here and I haven't even fed you yet."

"I'm coming, I'm coming. I can't find my black clunky shoes." Emily smiled as the girl yelled at her from the next room. It had taken her nearly three weeks to come out of her shell, but when she did, she burst out with bundles of energy and an attitude that rivaled even Sonny's. The girl had learned in less than two weeks how to wrap Jason, Sonny, and Lucky around her finger and run roughshod over the guards. Between her, Michael and business everyone went to bed at night worn out.

"You can't wear that," Emily whipped around and saw Bella, they had taken to calling her that after she stated that she hated being called Isabella, standing in the door way, one clunky black shoe in her hand the other on the floor ready to slide her foot into it. "You have to put something else on."

Emily looked down at herself. Boots. Jeans. And a tank top. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Too much skin. The other mom's will be wearing…more."

"Yeah, well, the other moms can kiss my as…"

"No bad words either," the little girl gave an exaggerated role of her eyes and walked away. "Just put something on over it. Please."

"Just put something on over it. Yeah, sure, mom. Next she'll be telling me when to go to bed and to stop smoking cause it's bad for my health. Brat." Emily mumbled to herself as she opened the closet door and began the trying task of finding something _appropriate_ to wear over her tank top. It took her less than a minute to realize she wasn't really prepared for meeting teachers. She had skirts, too short. Shirts, too low cut. And other assorted pieces of clothing, none of which made her look motherly. Actually, she'd chosen most of them because they flaunted her assets and she'd learned very quickly that in the cut-throat world of guns and bullets it was best to remind anyone and everyone that she was a woman and their mothers had always told them not to hit girls. "Dammit."

She stood in front of the door for two more minutes, before she seriously considered running over to Jason and Brenda's and borrowing something respectable, but then she pictured the happy family sitting at the table eating breakfast. Michael with his book bag packed, his clothes ironed, and his non-clunky shoes. Scrap that idea. Only one thing left, she turned from her side of the closet to Sonny's, found one of his button-ups and threw it on. There, she was covered. Mostly. She started to button up the shirt, decided against it, looked in the mirror and grunted. She knew she looked ridiculous, swimming in one of Sonny's shirt, but she realized very quickly that she didn't care. It smelled like him and since he'd been gone she'd missed that. Dammit, again.

"Emmy, we've gotta go. We'll be late!"

"I'm coming." She took one last look in the mirror and darted out of the room and down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she stopped abruptly, looked at Bella sitting at the table and realized she hadn't made breakfast. "Damn."

"What?"

"No food. We'll have to stop on the way. Come on, we better haul ass."

"Brenda and Jas…"

"No," Emily interrupted. "I am not gonna go over there and tell them I forgot to make breakfast. Just get your book bag and we'll have Johnny stop on the way. How about doughnuts? Sound good?"

"Sonny wouldn't like that."

"Well then Sonny should have kept his ass in town, huh." Bella smiled, picked up her book bag and headed to the door, but before she had a chance to pull on the handle someone shoved it open and nearly knocked her in the head. She jumped back and started to make a face when she saw who was walking through it.

"Sonny!"

"Hey, kiddo." Sonny grinned at his sister and shot a look over at Emily before he leaned over to pick the girl up. "You ready for your first day at a new school?"

"Uh huh." She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hung off of him. "But Emmy forgot breakfast."

"Tattletale."

Sonny grinned as he let the little girl slip from his arms and softly hit the floor. "Johnny's in the hallway and he has something I think you'll like. We'll eat it in the car on the way over to your school. Okay?"

"Yup," she smiled and ran out the door hoping that she was still gonna get the doughnuts Emily had offered.

"So…"

"So what?"

"So," Emily let her fingers play over one of the buttons on the shirt she was wearing. "So I thought you had business. So I thought you wouldn't be back until tomorrow. So how did you know I'd forget breakfast? So, a lot of things."

"So, I did have business. So, I finished early. So, you always forget breakfast."

"Not always."

"Mostly."

"Only because you always make me eat fruit or some other ridiculous thing so it's just easier to let you fix it or order it or whatever it is you do."

Sonny smiled, walked over to her, and pulled on the bottom of the shirt she was wearing. "Good taste."

Emily looked down, avoiding eye contact and trying desperately to hide the blush she knew was creeping onto her face. "Uh, yeah, Bella said I needed to look more motherly and I didn't have anything to go over this and we were crunched for time so I just… Uh. Well, I can take it off."

"Come here," he took her hand and pulled her into his arms as he held her hand and wound his fingers through hers. "Don't worry about it. It looks good on you and we need to get going."

"Are you, uh, are you sure you still want me to go? I mean Bella is your sister and I'm not really…"

"Hey." He took her chin in his hand and pulled her head up so she was looking into his eyes. "You're coming with us, then I have a couple of things to handle at the warehouse and we'll go out tonight. Just you and me."

"Bella…"

"She'll be in bed early tonight. Jason said that Michael is always worn out after his first day back at school, I'm assuming it'll be the same for Bella."

"Emmy! Emmy!" Emily pulled away from Sonny a little and looked over his shoulder in time to see a flurry of pink, brown, and clunky black shoes come running through the door. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"Doughnuts." Bella held the bag up for approval and grinned from ear to ear. "Can you believe it?"

"Yeah," Emily looked into Sonny's eyes. "Yeah, I can. Your brother can be a pretty smart guy sometimes."

"Only sometimes?"

"Well, you did leave didn't you? Can't go giving you too much credit, if you'd been here you sister might not be wearing clunky shoes, I might be wearing something presentable and we certainly wouldn't be eating breakfast in the car on the way to school."

"She's right," Bella grinned up at her brother.

"Oh, I get it," Sonny smiled. "Now you two are gonna gang up on me."

"Turnabout," Emily said.

"Fairplay," Bella finished.

"Brats," Sonny grinned and looked up as Johnny stood stoically at the door trying not to interrupt but obviously wanting say something. "What is it Johnny?"

"Nothing. It's just, well, if we don't get moving now we won't get Bella to class on time. She'll be late for her first day."

"Alright, let's go. We'll eat the doughnuts in the car." Bella hurried out the door and she was closely followed by Johnny, then Sonny with Emily taking up the rear.

They, as Bella so eloquently put it, chowed on doughnuts and milk on the way to school and actually managed to arrive only minutes after Jason, Brenda, and Michael.

"Izzy!" Michael came running at the group full speed with a woman following quickly behind him. "Mrs. Straton, this is my friend Izzy. Izzy, this is gonna be our teacher."

"Well, hello Izzy. Or would you rather Isabella?" The young woman kneeled down to Bella's level and smiled.

"Bella. Everybody calls me Bella."

"Okay, Bella it is," Mrs. Straton smiled at the girl in front of her and then turned to her side. "Michael could you show Bella where to put her jacket and book bag and then the two of you will have some free time with the others kids until we're all here."

"Sure," Michael took his friends hand and the two of them walked away talking to each other a mile a minute.

"Well, it seems like those two aren't going to have trouble finding someone to play with," Mrs. Straton smiled as she watched Michael practically drag the girl across the room and begin introducing her to all of the other children. "He's very…enthusiastic."

Brenda laughed and reached over to grab Jason's hand. She felt him tense as the teacher searched for the right word to describe Michael. Jason always had trouble handling situations where someone told him what his son was or wasn't and Mrs. Straton, without realizing it, had pushed a very sensitive button when she hesitated concerning Michael's hyper-activity. "That he is, and be careful he's just about the most curious child I've ever met."

Mrs. Straton smiled and her soft brown eyes focused on the woman standing directly in front of her. "I'll remember that. You must be Michael's mother."

"Uh, well," Brenda hesitated and only Emily and the young teacher noticed the uncertainty on her face. Jason was too busy watching Michael and Sonny, Bella. "No, actually, I'm his---I'm his step mother."

"Ah, I understand. And his biological mother?"

"Dead," Emily jumped in before Brenda could literally dissolve into a puddle. Jason, the idiot, didn't even notice the mortified look on his wife's face. "She died giving birth to Michael."

"Oh. I see. And you are Bella's…" _Shit!_ Emily could tell that the woman didn't want to make the same mistake twice, but she suddenly had a complete and utter understanding of Brenda's uncomfortable reaction.

"Actually I'm, well, I'm his girlfriend," Emily stuttered as she pulled on Sonny's jacket to get his attention. No way was she handling this.

Sonny turned as Emily pulled on his jacked and smiled at the woman. "I'm Bella's older brother. She's going to be living with me."

Emily could tell the woman wanted to ask more questions, but Sonny, God love him, had used his _that's the way this is gonna be and I'm not saying anymore about it_ tone of voice.

"Well I'm Mrs. Straton, as Michael already said, and I'll be your…I'll be the kids teacher this year so if you need anything just let me know."

"Yeah. Sure." Emily nearly busted out laughing as Jason answered the woman causing her to twitch a little in shock. He definitely had the strong-silent thing going for him and unlike Sonny, he didn't have to use a particular tone to get people to leave him alone. Everything about Jason Morgan, especially when he was concentrating on his kid, said, _back the fuck off._

"I'm just gonna…" The woman pointed towards where most of the children in the class had grouped together and just left her sentence hanging.

"Well, here I was thinking my clothing choice was gonna be the most uncomfortable topic of discussion. Who knew?"

"That is an interesting choice of clothing you've got going there," Brenda smiled as she turned and began walking out the door with Jason following behind her a smiled etched on his brooding face.

"Ha. Ha. Bite me," Emily started to follow and the abruptly stopped in the door way. "Shouldn't we like, warn them or something. I mean is Bella gonna be mad at us for just leaving her here, no goodbyes or anything?"

"Emily, turn and look at her," Brenda pointed to where the children were all playing on the carpet on the front of the room. "Does she look like she's worried about you saying goodbye? It'll be lunchtime before she even realizes you're gone."

"Oh. Well. Okay."

"Come on sweetheart," Sonny pushed her out the door of the classroom. "It's time to little the little birdie fly."

"You can bite me to, you know?"

"I do actually."

"Ewww," Brenda grimaced and hid her face in Jason's shoulder trying to get the image of Sonny biting Emily out of her head. She looked up at the slight smile Jason's face and grunted. "How can you stand hearing this crap from those two? It's constant."

"I don't know, maybe he realizes that you two constantly making out in the hallway before he goes to work is punishment for our very rare sexual jokes."

"Actually," Jason pulled Brenda's head from his shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Not having an imagination is good for something."

"So does that mean if Brenda has AJ ram her head into a tree she'll be more like you?"

Emily gave Sonny a look and slapped him on the shoulder as the group walked out the front door of the elementary school, "That is my brother your talking about and just because AJ isn't your favorite person doesn't mean you can talk bad about him around me."

"You're right, of course. Let me rephrase that. Does that mean of Brenda is a complete idiot and gets into a car with AJ while he's drinking that he'll have an _accident_ and she'll get to be an asshole to everyone? Is that better?"

"See this is why no one likes you."

"Really? I thought it was because he was constantly telling Jason to shoot at them. Geez, I'm always one step behind."

Emily looked over at Brenda and smiled, "That too. So what are you guys up to today?"

"Well I don't know what he's up to," Brenda pointed at Jason, "but I've gotta run home and them I have some things concerning Deception to handle with Gia. After that I'll be in for the night around 7:00. You?"

"Oh, well, apparently I have all day to get ready for this date that I'm going out on tonight. I think I'm gonna go back home, get some sleep and maybe by the time he's ready to take me out I will have recovered from two days of chasing _Bella The Destroyer_ around town."

"Alright, we both have to go into the warehouse, so you two can have Johnny take you home and we'll take Jason's car. Good?"

"Well, thank you Mr. Corinthos. I don't know what we'd all do without you to run out lives," Brenda smiled and then leaned over and gave Jason a kiss on the cheek. "See you later baby, be safe."

"You too."

Emily and Sonny watched the intimate exchange between the two with mild discomfort. Were they supposed to kiss? Is that what you did when you dated someone? Were they even dating? The fact that neither of them had, had a real relationship with someone of the opposite sex in many, many years made it very hard for them to find the line between pretending for the job and falling for each other.

Emily was the first to crack, "Yeah. So, I'll see you tonight. You should probably plan on being as flashy as possible you know, since this is our first night out, well, you know, together. As a couple."

"Yeah. See you." Sonny wasn't sure why it was so easy to hold her hand and be intimate with her at the penthouse, but here, with Jason standing over their shoulders, he felt like a teenage boy picking up his prom date with her father standing at the door shotgun in hand. The two couples parted ways, the women in the one car and the men on their way to another.

"So, you two are doing dinner tonight?"

"Yeah. I, uh, felt bad for leaving her alone with Bella all weekend and she's right, we need to be seen as a couple more if this is going to work. So, we'll get two things over with."

"Did you find anything new while you were gone?"

"Not sure," Sonny grimaced as he thought back on his trip to the island, he told Emily it was for business and that was partially true, but there was personal stuff handle over those two days also. "Stan is still down there working on the computer stuff. Trying to get more information on Emily's childhood and who may or may not be her father. He said he found a few connections, but nothing solid anywhere. From what he could tell the information that the FBI has is legitimate, but he wasn't able to really find out what it was. Apparently it's all on hardcopy, nothing in the system. And as far as the other thing. Nothing. We still have no idea who put the dead body on the shipment, but it's looking more and more like it wasn't anyone in the business. There just aren't any connections and for someone to kill and dump a guy on one of our shipments they'd have to find the schedule, talk to certain people. No one in the organization has done that so we're branching out. Checking on some other possibilities. There's one that looks promising, a company out of New York was looking into our accounts earlier this year, Stan just blew it off as either and FBI cover job, which we know now wasn't the case, or someone looking to invest. I told him to look hard this time. Be sure."

"So we have another problem then?"

"Looks like."

"How do you want to handle this? Do you want me to bring Lucky in on it or not?"

"Yeah. Things are about to get dangerous. We're gonna need everyone we can trust in on this. Are you gonna have a problem with Emily being involved? She, and I hate to say this, may have more legitimate connections than we do. We might as well use them."

Jason scrubbed his hands over his face and blew out a breath. "I—"

"We don't have to," Sonny interrupted, sensing the others man's hesitation.

"No. I guess—I guess we should. I'm just worried about her."

"She'll be fine. She's tougher than you think, maybe tougher than I think."

"Yeah," Jason grunted as the driver pulled out of the parking lot of the elementary school and turned toward the warehouse. "That's what I'm worried about."

* * *

Gia Campbell and Brenda Barrett both stared at the test strips in front of them in disbelief. They'd spend the past hour and a half sneaking out to a convenience store, buying the test, and sneaking back into Gia's apartment to use them and now was the moment of truth.

"You're pregnant," they said it simultaneously and then turned towards each other shocked. "What do you mean I'm pregnant?"

Brenda grunted and put her hand over Gia's mouth. "What are you talking about? The test on the right is positive. You're pregnant."

"Nuh-uh. I switched them. That ones yours."

"When?"

"When what?"

"When did you switch them?"

"After we took them. When you left to call Jason I decided that I didn't want to be able to see my results first so I just switched my test with yours. So now mine is the one on the left and yours is the one on the right."

"No, you idiot, I saw you. I switched them back. Yours is the one of the right and mine is the one on the left."

"Oh. Shit. No. You're still pregnant."

"The test says otherwise."

"No actually," Gia scrubbed her hands over her face and stared into the mirror in front of her. She lightly touched her middle finger under her eyes. Dark circles. Days and days of being unsure about whether or not she was carrying Lucky Spencer's child had kept her awake and aware. Now she could finally sleep. "I switched them more than once. So if we started with yours on the left and mine on the right and I switched them once, you switched them once and then I switched them again then that means that yours is on the right now. You're pregnant. Yay!"

"Yay?" Brenda started at her best friend in disbelief. "We have no idea which of us is pregnant. For all we know the Virgin Mary could have come in here and switched the damn test."

"Okay. Why would she do that?"

"Gia," Brenda said in her best warning voice. The one she used when Michael was about to sneak something from the kitchen.

"What? Don't use your Michael voice on me. I'm not a child and your Virgin Mary reference was ridiculous. You should have said Lucky or Jason or Max or someone, someone who is either here or has some sort of stake in the outcome. And beyond that, don't get bitchy with me, you're pregnant and we both know it and I don't know why your so freaking scared. You're like the mom to end all moms. You're great with Mikey."

"We just need to do the test again. Okay?"

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Seriously. I don't want to take any chances. Jase would never forgive me."

"Forgive you for what? Being pregnant? Not being pregnant? Being a psycho and switching the test so we don't know which one of us is pregnant?"

"All of the above."

"All of the…" Gia hopped up on the sink and pushed Brenda down by her shoulders so that she was sitting on the toilet in front of her, frowning. "What is all this about? It's taken you days to get up the courage to take this test and now you don't want to believe the results."

"You switched them!" Brenda leaned back against the wall behind her, folded her arms over her chest, and pouted indignantly.

"We both did! And that is not the point. The point is that for some unknown reason you are completely terrified of carrying Jason Morgan's child and the reason is a mystery to me since the two of you are like…shit, whatever the Beaver or Cleavers first names were."

"Yeah if Ward was a mobster and June was a washed up model."

"First, how the hell do you remember that? Second, you are not washed up. And third Jason is not…we'll, okay, you win on that one, but the others are crap."

"First, I'm older than you. Second, when was the last time I worked? And third, Jason is not just a mobster. He's kind and caring and he loves his son. Carly was really lucky to have…"

"Gotcha," Gia interrupted as she threw her hands up. "That's it! You worried that because you aren't Carly and Jason already has Michael that he won't want this child."

"I'm concerned, and with good reason. Gia, he's never mentioned wanting a child. I mean he's great with Michael, but who's to say he wants more kids? I was supposed to be on birth control, stupid antibiotics, and Jason knew that. He didn't mention me going off them. Isn't that a good sign that he doesn't want more kids?"

"Yeah, or it's a good sign that he's Jason Morgan and if something isn't smacking him in the face he doesn't think about it. Seriously, can you really see him sitting down and having a conversation, or even thinking on his own, about birth control and whether or not it's working and if it is working should you go off of it to get pregnant? It'd be more like you saying, 'Jason I'm pregnant,' and him saying, 'Great. Tell me when you're in labor.'"

"He won't be like that."

"Of course he won't! That's my point. He'll love this kid. He'll want this kid, but he's not gonna have a deep and meaningful conversation about you going of birth control so you can have kids. He just doesn't work that way."

"I know I'm just…scared. Really, freaking scared."

"Well, imagine if you thought you were pregnant with Lucky's child. Now that's scared."

"Why the hell would I think I was pregnant with Lucky's child?"

"You wouldn't," Gia rolled her eyes. "You better not anyway."

"Gia…"

"Fine. We'll redo your test, that way I won't be able to switch them and there will just be one possibility, but first you have to be honest with me."

Brenda looked down at her hands and grimaced. She knew, or thought she knew, what Gia was going to ask and the answer scared the crap out of her. "Okay. What?"

"Do you love him?"

"Of course I do. What kind of question…"

"Shut up," Gia interrupted.

"Do you want to have his child?"

"I—yes. Yes."

"Okay. Good. Do you think he'll want this child?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Then what is the problem?"

"Michael's teacher thought I was his mother today," Brenda looked up as she heard her friend suck in a shocked breath. "Yeah. Exactly. And Jason didn't say anything. He didn't agree. Didn't disagree. He just—nothing. I just wish he would say something sometimes, you know?"

"Aww, baby," Gia leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her best friend. She was usually so tough, so strong, you wouldn't know from looking at her that Brenda Barrett-Morgan was an insecure woman, especially where the affection of others was concerned. God help them both, if there was any weak spot in Jason and Brenda's marriage it was that he wasn't real vocal about his feelings and she needed reassurance. "He's not gonna do that and you have to stop expecting it. Jason loves you. You'd know if he didn't, because you wouldn't be married. He trusts you with Mikey and you'd know if he didn't because he wouldn't leave you alone with him. Jason trusts you totally and completely and you have to learn to trust that you are worth it and he isn't going to change his mind. Just trust that you love each other."

"Yeah," Brenda smiled as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I know. I just—sometimes it's so hard to read him and I feel like I wear my heart on my sleeve. I just wish—"

"You just wish that man was psychic. He isn't. Talk to him, let him know how your feeling and I'll be you any amount of money that when your done you'll feel completely loved and safe. You always do. Remember when you realized you were in love with him, but you wouldn't say it and then you got drunk and blurted it out. Remember how he responded."

"You mean before or after the naked, sweaty fun."

"Euw. Before."

"He laughed. I wanted to kill him, but he just laughed and said it took me long enough. Geez, you're right. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Hormones," Gia answered, a smile creeping onto her face.

Brenda looked up, shocked and started crying again. "Oh God. Oh God. Gia, I'm pregnant. I'm gonna have a baby!"

"I thought you wanted to take another test."

"I do, but…I'm gonna have a baby."

Both women smiled and just continued sitting on the edges of the toilet and sink. Brenda Barrett-Morgan, thank God, was going to be a mother. And Gia Campbell, thank God again, was not.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

"Em!" Lucky smiled as he realized that he'd just yelled. Out loud. In Sonny Corinthos' penthouse. And no one smacked him on the head or looked at him crazy or told him to shut the hell up and sit down. Huh. Interesting. Maybe Gia was right, maybe it would be fun to come in one day when he was gone and christen the boss's couch. It wasn't like Sonny brought any of the women—if the term was being used in its loosest sense—home. No sex in the work room, not for Sonny—put-a-coaster-under-that—Corinthos. "Emily! Where the hell are you?"

"Upstairs," she yelled and Lucky took two seconds to marvel out how the sound vibrated off the walls and convinced him for a second, just one, that God, if God existed, was a woman and yelling at him to go upstairs. "Come here! I need your help."

His help? Nope, not God. Just Emily.

"Fine," he grumbled and made his way upstairs. "What the hell do you—Whoa! Hey, Em, seriously. Not cool." Lucky whipped around and faced the door he had just come through. He'd expected to see her sitting in a chair, chillin' on the bed, not dressed, or undressed, in her underwear and standing in the middle of the room.

Great. How was he gonna explain this one to Gia. _Yea, baby, I had a good day. Oh, what did I do? Well, let's see, I saw my best friend standing in Sonny's bedroom in some really miraculous looking underwear. How about you? Gia, sweetheart, why are you packing? It was innocent. Really._

"Oh geez, woman, put some clothes on!"

"Oh geez man, get over it. Come over here," she pointed to the chair next to her, "sit down and shut up. I need your help."

"Em, you know you're my best friend, but this, whatever it is, could get me killed."

"Don't worry," she waved in the air absently. "Not even Jase would kill you just for seeing me in my underwear."

"Yeah, sure," he grunted and didn't mention that Jason wasn't who he was worried about—or hadn't been—it was Gia and Sonny he'd envisioning skinning him alive and making it painful. "Why am I here?"

"Right. So, here's the thing, I have no clue what to wear to this dinner thing with Sonny tonight."

"Uh, okay, and you're asking me? Em, I'm flattered, sort of, but wouldn't Gia or Brenda be better for this? Maybe Skye. Hell, anyone but me."

"Yeah, if I was going for the fashion factor, but I'm not. This is about sex, about looking like a woman a guy like Sonny would want on his arm. I need to look like, well, like a mob moll—for lack of a better term. And five years ago I could have figured this out all on my own, but…" She stopped mid-sentence and looked at him with a pained expression. She didn't want to explain that she'd spent the passed few years hanging around with guys, none of whom looked at her in any romantic manner, and once they finally did she was mostly finding ways to use their lust to her advantage. She didn't know how to look like a lady anymore. "Can you just help me? Please."

Lucky shuffled for a second, staring off into space. He wasn't used to this. To her voice sounding so…small. That was old Emily, new Emily wasn't afraid of things, at least not anything he'd seen. He realized quickly, so quickly that he took an alarmed step back, that they were stepping into new territory. Territory where she wasn't old Emily or new Emily she was just…Emily. His friend, who needed his help. This was good.

"Okay," he smiled as he took a seat in chair she'd pointed out. "Show me what you've got."

"Yay!" She rushed over and kissed him on the cheek. "You're the best. I don't know how to thank you."

"Just—Just don't touch me when your mostly naked, okay. It's weird."

"Okay. Whatever." She pulled away smiling, happier than she'd been all day. "Anything you want. I've got three things, two dresses and a pant…"

"No pants."

"Wha—Why? The shirt is really sexy and…"

"No. Pants." He interrupted again. "Gia never wears pants when she wants to make me suffer. Something about easy access and torrid male fantasies and, oddly enough, I agree. No pants."

"Right. Okay." She bit her lip and threw the pants off the bed. "Scratch the pants. That leaves the two dresses. One red. One black."

"Great. As far as I'm concerned those are the only colors women should ever wear. Except for white, white is sometimes allowed."

"Right. Freak."

Emily laughed as she bounced out of the bedroom and into the closet that, from what Lucky could see, was the size of a whole other bedroom. She was gone for a few minutes and Lucky entertained himself by looking around the room to see if he could find anything to use against his boss they next time he and Jason got into a pick on Lucky contest.

"What do you think?"

Lucky turned to see Emily leaning against the closet door in a bright red dress. It had spaghetti straps, at least that's what Gia called them, and it fit fairly tight to her body. The bottom was what a woman, he assumed, would call flowy and it ended a little passed her knees.

"Good. Nice."

Emily smiled and turned around so she was looking at him over her shoulder, "How about my butt?"

"Em."

"What? Lucky, guys like asses, there's nothing I can do about that."

"Yes, believe me, I know guys like asses, but I'm not looking at yours. If Sonny wants to, great for him, I hope he likes it. But that's where I, Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, draw the line."

"Alright. Scaredy cat."

"Damn skippy."

He laughed to himself as he sat back down in his seat and waited for her to reveal the next dress. When he heard the door knob rustle he looked up and waited for her to walk out.

"That one!"

"Tell me how you really feel," Emily smiled and did a little shimmy. She'd found the perfect dress.

"Seriously, Em, that's the one."

"I thought you guys liked red more."

"Guys like legs and breasts and women who look like they can kick their asses one second and want to be made love to the next. That's the one."

"Okay, well, I'm not sure Sonny shares your freakish little sex fantasies, but…"

"Trust me. He does."

"Huh. Okay." She reminded herself to shelve that little information away for later. "So this is the one then?"

"Yup."

"Alright, would you maybe stay until after I've showered and I'm ready? You know, just to be sure. I've got grape popsicles hidden in the back of Sonny's freezer."

"Yeah, sure. I'm free for a while."

"Good." Emily gathered up her things and as Lucky started to leave she turned to him one more time, "Lucky."

"Yeah?"

She walked over, after the wrapping the robe she had in her hand around her body, and kissed him on the cheek again. "Thank you. Really."

Lucky smiled at her back as she hurried to the bathroom and shut the door. "You're welcome."

He was downstairs for forty-five minutes before anything interesting happened. He ate the grape popsicle she'd offered—two actually. Then he riffled through some magazines, picked up a few toys and then settled on the couch and waited to be summoned back upstairs for final approval. He thought he'd give her his okay and then be gone before anyone was the wiser. Of course, life never quite worked out that way. As door to the penthouse opened, he threw himself into the back of the couch and reached blindly for the first magazine he could find.

"Uh. Hey." Sonny walked into the penthouse and felt oddly uncomfortable as he noticed Lucky Spencer sitting on his couch.

Lucky looked up from the magazine in his hand and said the first thing that popped into his head from the article he'd read earlier, "Did you know that some people wipe their babies first dirty diapers of the day on their faces to make sure they have good skin when they are older?"

"I—Actually, yes."

"Yeah, that's going on the list of things I'm NOT doing to my kid."

Sonny looked down at the younger man, suddenly amused. "Yeah. Why are you here?"

"Oh," he gestured absently towards the stairs. "Em needed some help with what to wear to your dinner—thing."

"And she called you?"

"Yup. So, where's the squirt?"

"Who?"

"Izzy."

"Oh," Sonny laughed. "She and Michael are at Bobbie's tonight. Brenda and Jason wanted sometime time alone too and we all figured that, that is where they'll be staying if we're out of town so they might as well get used to going to school from there too."

"Good idea."

"Uh huh," Sonny shook his head and smiled.

"You know she put a lot of thought into the whole dinner thing right? She wants this to be perfect."

Sonny looked at Lucky, confused. "Okay."

"I'm just saying, she's trying to impress you so…be impressed."

"I will be," Sonny smiled and sat back into the chair. He wondered if that was Lucky's way of giving the, _don't break my best friends heart_ speech without getting killed. If so, it worked.

"Luck!"

Both men whipped their heads around and stared up at the stairway.

"Yeah!" Lucky yelled back and smiled as he started to get up. He knew what she wanted, but it was more fun having her yelling down at him like a maniac, especially since, generally, he wasn't allowed to yell in Sonny's home.

"Get up here. Now!"

"Yes mam," Lucky got to the stairs and turned back around to look at Sonny. "Duty calls."

Sonny watched the younger man jog up the stairs at an even pace and realized, abruptly, that he was impressed. Lucky had made no veiled threats about breaking Emily's heart, no smarmy comments about sex on the first date. He'd done nothing to make Sonny think less of him and he'd managed to be sure that his friend was going to be treated well without, even for a second, risking his own job or neck.

Maybe he was learning from Jason.

"Dammit!" Sonny shot up out of his seat as he heard glass shatter upstairs.

"Nothing to worry about," Lucky yelled down at him. "I'll pay for it."

_Maybe not._

"What was that?" Emily shouted from the bathroom. She decided that there would be more of a shock value if she came into the bedroom after Lucky.

"Uh. Nothing too big. Don't worry."

"Okay," she laughed and opened the door to the bathroom. "What do you think?"

"Stunning. Gorgeous." Lucky pretended to wipe a tear from his eye as he watched her do a couple of quick twirls.

"Yeah?"

"Totally. Now get your ass downstairs. You're already fashionably late."

"He's here? And ready? I thought he'd need to…"

"What? Put on makeup?"

"No, but something. Am I overdressed?"

Lucky laughed as he walked over, grabbed Emily's hand and began dragging her out of the room. "No. Believe it or not the man has a shower and suits at the warehouse in case he needs to change and can't make it home. It's weird."

"Well, okay. That's…thoughtful, I guess," Emily smiled as she looked over to Lucky when the reached the corner before the top of the stairs. "Wish me luck, Luck."

"You don't need it."

She smiled. "Do it anyway."

"Okay. Good luck."

Sonny flipped the lighter in his hand open and closed for nearly two minutes before he realized that he was a grown man fidgeting—in his own home no less—while he waited for his date. He looked up at the stairs and grunted. _What the hell were they doing up there? Picking out drapes?_ He grimaced as he stood up and walked over to his desk. He opened the top drawer, reached inside and pulled out the small velvet box that he'd slipped into it when he'd picked up Bella and Emily that morning. He flipped it open and closed as he had the lighter only seconds before and began pacing in front of the door.

"Sonny."

Before he even turned around his breath caught in his chest. _When had her voice become so damn sensual?_ The sound of her purring out his name did things to his body that he hadn't experienced seen he was a teenage boy.

"Is that for me?"

He looked down at his hands and remembered the velvet box. He smiled as he began walking toward her and his breathe left his body in a heavy sigh as he finally risked himself and looked at her. Her hair was pulled up off her shoulders in a way that made him not only curious as to how to stayed in place, but also itch to wrap his fingers around the loose strands that framed her face. He was sure she had to have makeup on, but her face looked so beautifully naked, except for the coral lips (he assumed that's what color it was), that he began to doubt his own knowledge of women and grooming. His eyes shifted down and he found himself shocked that a bare neck and shoulders, except for the thin black straps holding the dress in place, could be so wonderfully enticing. The dress skimmed down her body and over her curves in a way that made him wonder how it was possible that he was still standing and not kneeling at her feet. He sucked in yet another breath as the black material cinched in at her waist and spread across her hips until it stopped just above her knees. He had an almost inhuman desire to press his lips right there, right above her knee where the dress stopped and the only thing that stopped him was the fact that he needed to finish looking. He made his way down her leg to where the muscles were taut and down to the black heels the framed said legs perfectly.

"You look amazing."

Emily smiled. "You just heaved about three times; I'd say that's a little better that amazing. I'd say that's down right spectacular." She took one step forward and pointed. "The box. Is that for me?"

Her response gave him a little time to compose himself and he smiled as he handed the box to her, "No one else I'd be buying jewelry for."

"Better not be." She couldn't stop yet another grin from spreading across her face as she held her breath and opened it. "Oh God, Sonny, it's beautiful."

He thought of her body, her smile, her whiskey brown eyes that he so easily got drunk in. "It's alright."

He walked around her and draped the necklace around her neck before clasping it as she fingered the five diamonds that hung, connected from the end of the silver chain and stopped just above the neckline of her dress and nearly dipped between her breasts.

Emily turned around and looked at Lucky over Sonny's shoulder. "You were right, the black was better."

"Oh," Sonny looked between them, "there were choices?"

"No. The other wouldn't have matched the necklace."

"Well then, it's perfect." Sonny reached over in a moment of utter possessiveness and grabbed her hand. He didn't know why, but the small amount of attention that was being paid to Lucky Spencer made him squirm just a little. "Are you ready?"

"Absolutely." She began walked to the door, still holding Sonny's hand in hers but making sure he had to walk behind her—she knew her ass looked good in the dress.

As they reached the door Sonny turned and looked at Lucky, "You movin' in?"

"Nah. I gotta meet my dad in a half hour, something about his bachelor party, no sense in going home."

Sonny shook his head, "Okay."

"You two kids have a good night." Lucky laughed as Emily nearly yanked Sonny out the door.

"Thanks dad." Emily winked over her shoulder at Lucky as the door closed behind them.

"Weirdo's."

* * *

Brenda scowled anxiously around the room. She'd lit candles for a bit of ambiance, bought beer for him and juice for her—wine was out of the question now—and pizza. All the makings of a perfect evening. A little of her world, at little of his.

"This is gonna be great." It took her only ten seconds to realize that not only was she trying to reassure herself, but also that her palms were sweating and her right eye was twitching, as it was prone to do when she was nervous. It didn't take her ten more to reach for the phone and dial the number without thinking as the fear rose up in her throat.

"You've got to be kidding me," Gia Campbell snorted as she looked at the caller ID on her phone and answered rolling her eyes. "Is he there? He better not be there if you're calling me."

"He's not here yet."

"Good. Seriously, Bren I love you but you've got to chill. This is ridiculous. Haven't you ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecy? You keep thinking he'll react badly and he will."

"That's comforting."

"It's not supposed to be. You're just being surly because I won't humor you. That man loves you, he married you. I think it's time to learn that he won't leave you. He's not Jax or Sonny, God love him, and for that matter, you aren't that girl anymore either. Trust him, trust me, hell, trust yourself. This is good news. You're gonna be a mother."

"Alright," Brenda plopped down on the couch and blew out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "So…are you gonna tell Lucky about the scare?"

Gia groaned. "I don't know. He's dealing with a lot with Emily being back and bonding with Nikolas, which both Luke and Stefan hate, and now Little Miss Lizzie is coming back to town. It's rough on him. I don't want to scare him or, heaven forbid, give him any idea's. You know?"

"I do. Those Spencer boys seem to like reproducing. Well at least Luke does. What's he on now, thirty?"

"Ha. Three. Bitch."

"Three. That maniac. When did he start? Twelve."

"Okay," Gia leaned back and rolled her eyes as she adjusted the phone. "I get it. There's really no chance of it giving him any ideas, but seriously, I just don't want him stressed about this."

"So you get to stress all on your own? That's very self sacrificing of you, Little Miss Gia."

"Let me restate my previous comment: Bitch."

"Uh huh," Brenda jumped up as she heard the key turning in the door. "Sorry. He's here. Gotta go."

"Good luck."

Brenda hoped so as she smiled at Jason as he walked through the door.

"Welcome home."

"Uh huh," he looked around the room curiously and then stared at her. "Did I forget something?"

"Nope."

"Okay," he drawled out the word as he walked over and kissed her on the cheek. "Beer. Pizza. Candles. What did you do?"

"Nothing. Honest."

"Alright. What did I do?"

An almost manic laugh bubbled out of her as she whipped around and grabbed a beer off the table. "Thirsty?"

"Sure." He carefully took the beer from her hand and opened it as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

"I just thought that since Michael is gonna be at Bobbie's and we have the penthouse all to ourselves we could relax for a while and maybe, if you like, I might seduce you."

"Hmmm," he walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist. "That sounds good. What did you do?"

"Nothing. Geez." She pulled away from him, walked over to the pool table, and started shoving the balls around. She wasn't sure why she was so suddenly pissed off, but she was. _Why was he being mean? Had she really never planned a nice evening for him without having ulterior motives? Was she that bad of a wife? And if so how could she possibly be a good mother?_

"Hey," he walked over and put a hand over hers to stop her from fidgeting with the balls on the table. "I'm sorry. It's been a long day. Come sit down."

He took her hand and led her around to the couch and she followed silently behind him, kicking herself for responding so irrationally.

"No, it's—it's my fault. I just wanted this to be perfect and now I'm screwing it all up."

"Hey," he took her chin in his hand and turned her head so she was facing him. "You didn't screw anything up. Just—just tell me what's wrong? Did something happen? Is everything okay at work?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine, I just thought I could ease into this a little more. God," she clinched her fist, frustrated at her own lack of anything even resembling tact. "Why do you have to know me so well?"

"We're married."

His simple answer made her smile easily and just as suddenly as the fear had settled in her chest, it went away. He was right, Gia was right, they were married.

"Okay," she took both of his hands in her and gulped down a breath as she looked him in the eyes. "I have something to tell you. I, uh, I don't think it's bad or anything. I actually think it's probably pretty good, but I'm just not sure what you're gonna think with everything going on right now."

"Alright. Just tell me. We'll handle it."

"We'll handle it," she repeated and shook her head. That was right. They'd handled everything else. "Okay. Here's the thing. You remember how last week I wasn't really feeling well and how I told you I was a little late with my period?"

"Yeah. Why is something—Are you sick or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that." _God, if she didn't get this out quickly he was gonna be carrying her to the hospital for a battery of test._ "I'm fine. Mostly. I think. I have a doctor's appointment in a couple of days and she'll have to confirm it, but I, uh, well…I'm pregnant."

"Pregnant?" His hand slipped from hers as he reached up and scrubbed it over his face. _Pregnant?_ He got up from the couch, walked over to the fire place and leaned against it. When he looked up he was face to face with a picture of him and Michael and Brenda that had been taken by Sonny the winter before when they were playing in the snow. Brenda knocked him over and landed in his lap when she was running from Michael, who was chasing her with a snowball. After she'd fallen on him, Jason reached up and pulled Michael down on her and they all sat on the ground grinning up as Sonny took the picture. He smiled as he ran his finger down the glass frame and traced his son's grinning face.

"Jason? Jason please say something."

The pleading tone on her voice quickly brought him back to the present as he turned around with the picture in his hand. "Before, when I first woke up and for a long time after that I couldn't really see pictures. I couldn't make out the faces or the shapes or anything, not really. They were just these things, pieces of funny feeling paper that everyone showed me to try and make me remember something. Now, now I have them everywhere. I have pictures of you and Michael and Emily," she smiled up at her, his eye shinning with emotion, "hell, I have pictures of Gia. Everyone."

She laughed as the almost baffled look washed over his face. "There are a lot of people in our lives."

"That's the thing, I didn't want that before. I didn't want to have to worry about other people and what they were feeling and how I was letting them down. And then one day I woke up and I cared. I didn't really know what was happening I just knew that I didn't want to let them down, you know? And when Michael was born there was suddenly this person who I was supposed to take care of. Carly was dead and Sonny was gone and people tried to teach me, you know, tried to tell me how to do it right, but mostly it was just like the pictures. I couldn't see how they wanted me to do it. I'd—I'd hear him crying and be worried, but I'd just know. I'd know he wanted to be held or he needed to cry and there'd be times when Emily was there after school and she'd be sitting and reading to him from some book and I'd feel like I was okay. Like that was where I was supposed to be and even if I was doing it wrong, there were all these people there to help, but mostly they thought I was doing okay. You know, except the Quartermaine's, but Bobbie said I was good with him and Robin and Emily and when Sonny came back he was impressed, with me, with something I'd done. I had son and it was my job to teach him and I was good at it."

"Yeah," she smiled as the tears streamed down her face. "Yeah, you were really good with him. Great really. Carly, she'd be—I think she'd be happy that she chose you as his father. I think she'd be real happy."

He looked up at her, suddenly worried, "Are you?"

"I don't understand. Am I happy she chose you as Michael's father? Of course I am, I love him and…"

"No, no," he scrubbed his hands down his face again. "Are you happy you chose me as your child's father?"

"I—God yes," the sobs she'd been holding in were unleashed as he crossed the room and held her in his arms.

"Oh God Jason I'm so happy," she grasped onto the back of his shirt and held on for dear life. "When I look at that little boy, how good he's turned out, I'm just so damn impressed with you and so damn happy your gonna be the father of my little girl or boy. When I was sitting waiting for the tests to be finished I just kept thinking about how good of a brother Michael will be and how much he'll want to teach his little brother or sister and how much of that comes from you. And then I'd think of how good of a father you're gonna be to this child and then I'd think how far behind both of you I am."

He pulled away from her and smiled a little. "What?"

"Well you two, you've got all this experience now, being together and making a family work and Jason I was just so damn scared to tell you and all because I have no idea how this stuff is really supposed to work. I mean I have you and Michael, but mostly you guys had it figured out already and you just let me in. I don't know how this is gonna work, with me and a new child. I don't know how I'm gonna be as a mother. I mean won't it change the dynamic or something?"

He laughed as he brushed the tears off of her face. "Yeah. Probably. Is that okay?"

"I think so. I mean, it better be. I'm just—I'm gonna need your help. Okay?"

"Brenda look at me," he stepped away from her, but still kept her hand in his as he guided her down to the couch and took her face in his hands. "You are gonna be a good mother. Okay? You've been great with Michael and he loves you so much and…"

"What?" She looked up at him utterly worried; he just stopped in the middle of the sentence for no reason and she suddenly worried that he'd changed his mind that quickly and realized that she'd be a horrible mother. "What? Is something wrong?"

"No, no. I just. You are a mother."

"I—Okay."

"You said before that you don't know how you're gonna be as a mother, but you're great as a mother. You don't let Michael eat too much junk food and you don't let him cuss and you make him do his homework and he listens to you when I'm not here and he loves you. You are a mother."

"I—Thank you."

"No. You don't need to thank me, you did that. Is that what this was about? You not telling me and being scared? Was this about thinking you aren't Michael's mother?"

"Carly…"

"…is his mother too. She gave birth to him. Part of her is in him, but Emily has two moms and that's okay right? Why can't Michael. I mean, you know—you know that I'm not biologically his father. You're one of the only people who know, so why would you think you weren't his mother?"

"It's just a little different okay. I didn't want to hurt you or him or Bobbie or anyone else. It's just…different."

"It's not. But that's not the point either. We'll deal with this later. The point is that you are a good mother to him and you will be a good mother to this child."

"Well, okay, thank you, but what do you mean we'll deal with this later. Jason…"

Both of them jumped as they heard the knock of one of the guards on the door. Max turned the knob and looked in, "I'm sorry to bother you boss, but Stan is here and he says it's important."

"Very important," the young black man pushed his way through the door and shut it behind him. "I'm sorry to bother you, but you said you wanted this information right away and it's, well, it's huge."

"This isn't really a good time."

Stan looked around the room for the first time and noticed the lit candles and the beer and the pizza. Weird. "Look I get it, really I do, but this is important. Trust me, if I don't tell you this now you are going to want to shoot me later."

"It's okay," Brenda touched Jason's should and he turned to look at her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. We'll talk about this later."

He looked her directly in the eye, "We will. As soon as he leaves. You're staying down here."

"That's not…"

"Actually," Stan interrupted as he ventured further into the room. "That's not a bad idea. This is, how should I put it, business and personal."

"What have you got?"

"Your sister's birth certificate. Actually, both of them."

"Both," Brenda asked, confused.

"Yup, both, and if you think that's weird you ain't seen nothing yet." Stan reached in his bag and pulled out two pieces of paper. "They aren't the same."

"What do you mean they aren't the same," Jason reached out and took both pieces of paper.

"One of them is a year older than the other and has a different father listed. Look."

"Oh my God," Brenda reached over Jason's shoulder and snatched both of the papers out of his hand, holding them in her own and comparing them. "Are these for real?"

"That's the thing. They are. Both of them. From all the information I could find, both of these documents are, essentially, legit. The only difference is the year, not the day, mind you, just the year and the father. They are exactly the same, well, unless you count that the mother's middle and first names are switched, but if she was trying to hide that's barely even a noticeable difference." Stan knew the words were stumbling out of his mouth, but he'd never been in this position before. Mostly when he worked for Jason and Sonny and knew what he was looking for, knew what he was gonna find. This was different, really different.

"And you're sure that these couldn't be two different women? Two different children?"

Stan looked up at Jason with insult shimmering in his eyes, "I'm the best. This is what you hire me for. Both of these birth certificates are for the same child. The year of birth is different and the father is different, but these are, I swear to God, both for the same child. Same hospital, same witness, same almost everything. The odds of this happening are nonexistent. Both of these birth certificates are for your sister."

"Okay, which one is real?"

"I wasn't sure at first, I mean whoever made these was damn good at what they did, most anyone else wouldn't have been able to tell a difference."

"But…"

"But I'm not most anyone else," Stan smiled to keep from quivering; this really wasn't information he wanted to have. He'd done work for Jason and Sonny before, but having information like this on Jason's little sister was not making him feel warm and fuzzy inside. "So, here's what I've got. Neither of them is real, not really. They were both made years after the birth of this child, not sure how many years, and they both have wrong information—I think. If you look at the one that's on file for her, the one that says she's twenty-three, you'll see that the date stamp is black, most of the date stamps from the time Emily was born in Arizona are bi-colored. Red and Black. So that's a dead give away on that one, too easy. Whoever made that one wanted it to look real enough, but they had to know that anyone who looked deep enough, tried hard enough, would realize it was a fake. Everything else on it looks legit. The hospital, the witness, the mothers name and signature, the fathers name and signature; all perfect."

"And the second one," Jason asked, "the older one. What's wrong with it?"

"That's the thing. Nothing and everything. I mean the date stamp is perfect, bi-colored, and the hospital is fine, the witness, and all that good stuff. But most everything else, everything we know to be true, is wrong. Her mother is listed as Sophie Paige Alcazar. The date of birth would make Emily a year older. The father, well, you can see what's wrong with that and he hasn't signed it. The second looks more real, but the first one has the right information. So…"

"Yeah. Listen Stan, I don't want anyone to know this okay. You don't tell anyone about the two birth certificates or the fathers or anything. Understood?"

"Yes, sir, there are a few more pages, just explaining what I've told you. I'm trying to hunt down the witness, maybe a nurse or doctor, and check and see what kind of order the hospital was in during for those two years, I'll probably need to go to Arizona for that so if you want I can just disappear for a while…"

"Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Call me tomorrow I'll have some money and a flight ready for you. Leave the papers here."

"Alright." Stan dropped all the papers from his bag on the table and left the penthouse.

Brenda and Jason both sat silently staring at the papers trying to make sense out of the information in front of them.

"I have to call them, Sonny and Emily, they are having dinner tonight. I need to show her these."

"Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Do you want me to stay or go or what?"

"I—stay. You should stay. Did—did you see? Who the birth certificate that he said had the right stamp has listed as the father? The one that makes her a year older than she is and has her mother's name wrong. Did you see who her father is?"

"Yeah. Lorenzo Alcazar. Lorenzo Alcazar is the father that didn't sign the birth certificate. Do you think she knows?"

The question hung in the air as the both sat, gazing at the papers in front of them.

"Bren, about the baby…"

"Don't worry about it, this is more important. Well, no, not more important, but more pressing. This can't wait."

"Yeah. Hey," he turned to her and took her face in his hands one last time. "You know what?"

"What?"

He smiled, "I'm really happy you're having my baby."

She smiled back and kissed him. "Me too."

* * *

"I can't believe you thought it would be a good idea to make reservations here," Emily smiled as Sonny pulled out her chair and then walked around to sit across from her. "You know that my grandfather's spies are calling him right now, he'll probably be here before we've even gotten our dinner."

"Yeah," Sonny laughed, "I figured that, but the _Grille_ is the most well known place in town and we needed to be seen. Anyway, it'll be good to deal with your grandfather in semi-neutral territory."

"Semi-neutral, yeah, right. You do realize that every time Cook got mad at grandfather or someone else in the family I ended up having dinner either here or at Kelly's. Most of these people have known me since I was thirteen, at least. They are gonna be watching you like a hawk. One wrong move and boom," she brought her hands down on the table, "rat poison in your dinner."

"Nah. They like me here, plus, I always give really good tips."

"Yeah and my grandfather pays their checks. I don't know if even fourty percent on a two hundred dollar bill is gonna be enough to make them take your side over his."

"Well then I'll just have to be sure not to make any wrong moves."

"Damn and here I was looking forward to an interesting evening. Should we just leave now?"

"No. I guess we're just going to have to go somewhere else for dessert," he winked across the table at her as she looked at him over the rim of her water glass.

"Hmm. Good idea. What did you have in mind?"

"Well…"

"Corinthos!" More than half the occupants of the dinning room turned to look at Edward Quartermaine as he came barreling into the room, shoving off wait staff two at a time. "Look young man, I own this place and I will yell all I want so get your hands off of me. Are you new? You must be. I'll just…"

"Grandfather," Emily got up from her seat at the table and walked over to him. When she reached his side she carefully shooed off the man holding his arm and pulled him toward the table. "Would you like to sit with us? We're just waiting for our dinner. Sonny was nice enough to call ahead and order my favorite, I'm surprised you didn't have the kitchen staff ready and waiting for that, you might have made it here before us."

Edward grunted, "Yes, well, I'll just have to think of that next time now won't I."

"Yes you will." Emily pulled an extra chair over to their table and easily guided her grandfather into it. "I know you're here to yell at us, but you may want to keep it down. You're scaring some of the patrons who aren't so used to the Quartermaine family's more colorful behavior."

"Don't tell me how to act in my own restaurant young lady." He blustered, but his noise level had gone down considerably.

"Yes, sir."

"And don't humor me either. I let both of you off the hook when you were at the house for Skye's engagement, but now Lila is not here to threaten me with barring me from our bedroom so we will have this conversation."

"Of course grandfather. What did you want to talk to us about?"

Sonny sat back and smiled as he watched Edward and Emily handle each other, it was amazing that he'd never noticed just how much alike they were. For all of the qualities that Emily shared with Lila Quartermaine, it seemed that she shared just as many with Edward. He wondered how it was that the older man hadn't convinced Emily to begin learning the family business before she'd disappeared. She'd have been a natural and no one would have ever seen her coming. Not sweet little Emily Quartermaine.

"And what the hell are you grinning at Corinthos?"

"Nothing," Sonny answered. "Just thinking about how much like you, your granddaughter is."

"Oh, well, that better be what you were thinking about."

"Yes, because I'm sure he was thinking about throwing me down on the table and…"

"Emily!" Both Edward and Sonny interrupted her before she could get the rest out, Sonny because he didn't want to be thinking about Edward if he ever did decide to do what she was suggesting and Edward because he didn't want to think about Sonny thinking about doing those things to his sweet little Emily.

"Well, fine then grandfather what would you like to talk about?"

Edward looked over at Sonny and grimaced and then turned back to Emily smiling, "Emily darling do you think we could speak alone for a few minutes?"

"No. Whatever you want to say to me you can say in front of the man I love." Emily winked at Sonny as she reached across the table and grabbed his hand.

"Oh for the love of…"

"Grandfather!" Emily interrupted. "Don't be rude!"

"Well if you insist on allowing this thug to hear our conversation, then I'm just going to say that I will not be held responsible for his reaction."

Emily looked at him quizzically, "You won't held responsible for Sonny's reaction to what you say?"

"That's right."

"Fine," she smiled. "Neither will I. Deal."

Edward saw the sly smiled slip onto Sonny's face and grimaced. "Well, now, you wouldn't let him do anything to me, now would you?"

"No, I wouldn't LET him, but I'm not responsible for his actions. Maybe you should just tread lightly."

"Fine. I just wanted to let you know that your grandmother has requested you presence for brunch this Sunday."

"Really. Is that all?"

"Well, no," Edward stalled as he sipped from the glass of water that had been set down in front of him. "She also invited that little girl that is living with you now, apparently Brenda mentioned her and Lila would like to show her the gardens. You spent so much time in them after your mother's death that she thought young Isabella would enjoy them too."

"Oh." Emily smiled to herself. Giving Bella a tour of the gardens sounded like something Lila would offer, but Emily knew better. It was Edward who told her that walking through the gardens calmed him and that it might do the same for her, after her mother died. And it was Edward who kept watch when she wanted to be alone in them. "I—Thank you grandfather. I think Bella would enjoy that very much."

"Yes, well," Edward hesitated again and then just allowed the rest to tumble off of his tongue. "Lila also said that it would be a shame to invite only you and Bella so she also extended her invitation to Mr. Corinthos."

"That was very nice of her grandfather, but…"

"We'll be there," Sonny interrupted. He had planned on spending Sunday showing Emily how the coffee warehouse was set up and taking her through some of the everyday stuff of his legitimate business in preparation for making it less legitimate, but that could wait.

"Are you sure?" Emily almost didn't want to ask. It had been so long since she'd spent time with her grandmother and she really wanted to introduce her to Bella.

"Yeah. It's no problem. I'm not sure I'll be able to make it, but you and Bella should go." Sonny decided that it might be better for everyone if he gave Edward an easy way out and just excused himself. Normally he wouldn't want his little sister anywhere near that family without being there himself, but having both Emily and Lila around would insure that the rest of the family was on their best behavior.

"Actually. Lila made it very clear that she wanted you both there, so if you can find time in your busy schedule…I really don't like disappointing my wife."

Emily could barely contain the surprise that threatened to leap onto her face. That was about as close to an invitation that Sonny Corinthos was ever going to get from Edward Quartermaine. _Interesting._

"Damn!" Edward hunched down in his chair and turned his head a little.

"What? Is something wrong?" Emily and Sonny both shot up out of their seats. "Is it your heart?"

"Yes, but I'm not having a heart attack. Sit back down both of you," Edward shooed them away. "I'm not going to die today. I just don't want to deal with that man."

"Who?" Emily searched the room "What man?"

"Ric Lansing, the new District Attorney. He's been asking question about Jason's involvement with ELQ lately."

"Jason's involvement," Emily questioned.

"What involvement. I thought he sold his stocks to you," she turned to look at Sonny.

"He did, but he was your power of attorney," Sonny broached the subject carefully. "Remember."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess I just forgot. I mean before…"

Edward looked at Emily, worry etched on his face. None of them had talked about the fact that Emily was not happy living in the Quartermaine house when she disappeared. She'd given Jason her power of attorney merely weeks after turning eighteen and then that summer she disappeared, there hadn't really been time for her to think about her actions or for her to change her mind and revert it back to her mother and father. She had no idea of the battle that ensued after she disappeared or the problems it cause when Alan or Monica mentioned having her declared dead so they could all move on. Jason was not willing to let go of his sister and even though it was supposed to take seven years to have a person declared dead by the state, there were questions about what should be done with her trust fund and bank accounts, and even the smaller issues of what should be done with her clothes and the posters that hung on her walls in the Quartermaine house became battles. In the end it was decided that Jason would take it all and pay for storage, but Edward knew that Monica and Alan had kept a few things…just as he had.

"Jason kept your stocks just in case…"

Sonny trailed off and Emily suddenly felt a knot in her chest. Most of the time she could forget about what everyone went through while she was gone; they didn't seem to be angry, only happy to have her back, but sometimes she would remember the hurt and pain her disappearance must have caused them all.

"I didn't—I'm sorry."

"Oh don't apologize sweetheart, it wasn't your fault. And anyway, it was good for everyone. Jason had to come to the house to visit sometimes and it made it much easier on your parents and your grandmother to have him there, even if it was only for a few hours during a board meeting. So," Edward continued as he reached for her hand, "even though you weren't here you were still your parent's link to your brother. You should be happy about that."

"I guess," she shot a look at Sonny and he nodded in agreement. It was going to take time, but if Jason could forgive her for not being there then the least she could to was forgive herself—or try to. "So what is this about the new DA questioning you about Jason? Is he asking about Sonny too?"

"Yes," Edward nodded and then risked a glance over his shoulder. "It's nothing to worry about; Scott Baldwin tried the same thing. He just wants to know if either of them has more power than just voting stock in ELQ. Like I would allow the criminal element anywhere near my company. Huh."

"Of course you wouldn't grandfather."

"Don't humor me young lady."

"Sorry, old man." Emily smiled as Edward squeezed her hand a little tighter. She'd forgotten how entertaining he could be when he tried to feign innocence. "So what is your issue with this new DA, just ignore him like you do everyone else."

"I would, but every time I turn around he's there. He was even at dinner last night with Elizabeth Webber."

"What?" Emily eyes widened almost comically as she looked from Sonny, who as also confused, to Edward. "The new District Attorney was at the Quartermaine mansion with Elizabeth? How does that work?"

"Well you know he's engaged to you Ms. Webber…"

"Engaged," Emily interrupted. "No."

"I assumed that was why he decided to become the DA of Port Charles. So that she could be closer to home. Anyway, he knows your brother from boarding school or one summer on Martha's Vineyard, I'm not quite sure which, exactly, it is."

"Wonderful," Emily grunted. AJ was best friends with the new DA. That was sure to turn out well.

"Mr. Quartermaine." Everyone at the table glanced up at the same time to see Ric Lansing standing behind Edward.

"Mr. Lansing. How are you?"

"I'm fine and you?"

"Wonderful."

"I see you're having dinner with your granddaughter…"

"Yes, well, actually I'm not," Edward interrupted as he shot Emily a look that told her he was throwing her to the wolves. "I was only stopping by for a second; I really have to get home to my wife."

"You must be a very busy man. My office has been trying to get a hold of you for days and you're always out of the office."

"Yes, well, we'll see what we can do about that. Have a good night." Edward gave Emily a quick kiss on the cheek and the hauled ass out of the dinning room.

"He's always in such a hurry," Ric smiled as he pulled out Edward's previously vacated chair and took a seat.

"Yes, well, that's grandfather," Emily smiled. "He tells me that you're the new District Attorney and you're also engaged. Congratulations."

"Thank you, I believe you know my fiancé, Elizabeth Webber."

"I do actually. We were best friends for a very long time."

"Until your disappearance, I know. Interesting, don't you think, that both of you would decide to come home at about the same time?"

"Sure," Emily forced a laugh. "Except that I didn't just wake up one day and decide to come home, I'm not sure if you've heard, but a lost my memory for a while. I didn't know where home was…"

"And then, wonder of wonders, Sonny Corinthos, you're brother's best friend, finds you and brings you home and you two fall madly in love. I've heard the story."

"Yes, my very own fairytale; white knight and all." Emily smiled a sugary smile at Ric as she reached across the table and gripped Sonny's hand. She wanted to calm him down a little, because the new DA was making it very clear that he had a little bit more information about her than either of them were comfortable with.

"Well, I'm not sure about the white knight part. You do know what Mr. Corinthos does for a living, don't you?"

"Yes," Sonny answered before Emily had a chance. "She knows all about my coffee business."

"I think everyone at this table knows that coffee is not your only business. As a matter of fact I doubt that coffee is your business at all. You're a mobster Mr. Corinthos."

"Listen we're trying to have a nice dinner here. If you have any questions for Sonny you can either contact him during his regular business hours, since that's worked so well with my grandfather, or you can get a warrant. Either way, leave."

"Well," Ric turned and looked at Emily. "Elizabeth was wrong about you. She said you were a sweet person who wouldn't hurt a fly, but being this scum's mistress and ignoring what he does for a living is almost as cowardly as murdering people for him, like you're brother does."

Sonny shot up out of his seat and started towards Ric, before Emily even had time to react.

"Sonny," she started to get up and block his way, but he just waved her off and stepped in front of Ric's chair.

"I think you need to be very careful how you speak to my girlfriend from now on. She hasn't been disrespectful to you or you fiancé and you will not be disrespectful to her."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Corinthos," Ric pushed out his chair and walked around it so that he and Sonny stood face to face, "you must have me confused with someone who is scared of you. I'm not Scott Baldwin or any other petty little District Attorney this town has seen before. Men like you do not scare me and it will be my pleasure to lock you in a cage. I'm sure your darling girlfriend will enjoy visiting you in prison; she can stop off at her brother's cage too. Let's just hope that she's free to do so."

This time Emily didn't waste a second, she was out of her chair and stepping between Sonny and Ric, before either man even saw her get up. She took Sonny's face in her hand and smiled at him, she could feel the anger coming off of him in waves. "Not here, Sonny. You and I both know he's trying to push your buttons, don't let him."

"Listen to your girlfriend Corinthos," Ric smiled as he reached into his pocket and threw a few hundred dollars on the table. "Your dinner is on me."

Emily turned around, picked the money up off the table and shoved it into Ric's hand. "You should leave. Now. And be very happy that I've had a good day; otherwise it might have been worth it to stand back and watch him beat the blood out of you. Now run along little boy, go play, leave the grown ups to their business."

Ric grinned and left the room.

"Well," Emily turned and smiled at Sonny. "That was fun. We should go out like this more often. Maybe next time we should bring Jason and instead of actually stopping that man from getting the crap kicked out of him we can take bets on how long he'll stay conscious. What? What's wrong?"

"Do not ever step between me and danger again."

"Danger? That guy? Sonny he wasn't gonna do anything, but…"

"Don't do it. Do you hear me?" He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to him. "Not like this. Not where I can't do anything to protect you and, for that matter, you can't do anything to protect yourself."

"I—I didn't think. I mean, he wasn't gonna do anything here Sonny, its okay."

"It's not."

She watched him sit down and carefully pulled out the chair next to him and followed suit.

"I've dealt with guy's way more dangerous than him, really, I'm fine."

"I know your fine." He massaged his forehead with his fingers and then looked up so that he was staring her dead in the eye. "You didn't see the look in his eyes Emily. He wasn't joking around, not the way you were, that wasn't the new DA feeling out the criminal element in the town. That man has already decided to hate me and I don't think he's gonna be as easy to control and Scott Baldwin was. I just want you to be careful."

"Sonny," she smiled at him, "don't you think your being a little overprotective here? He's the DA, of course he's going to hate you and I'm not just gonna sit around like a…"

"Dammit!" He pounded his fist on the table and stared in front of him, never risking another glance her way. "Can you, just this once, trust me when I say something is wrong with that man? Can you trust that I've been doing this a lot longer than you and the hate that was burning in his eyes was directed at me and not my career? Can you do that? Is it possible for you to realize you don't know everything?"

"I—yeah, sure, I'm sorry. I was just trying to let you know that I can handle myself." She wanted to be angry, wanted to rant and rave and yell and put him in his place, but the blatant anger that was shimmering in his eyes had her taking two proverbial steps back. Even if Ric Lansing wasn't dangerous, Sonny thought he was and maybe that needed to be threat enough for her.

"Thank you," he nearly whispered it and they sat for a few minutes, both quiet, neither quite sure what to say. He wanted to tell her than he'd met men like Ric Lansing before, wanted to let her know that every time he'd underestimated one of them it turned out badly, but most importantly he wanted to let her know that he'd protect her. That she wouldn't end up paying for a mistake he'd made, she wouldn't get hurt because he'd underestimated the wrong man.

Instead he said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled."

"It's okay."

"No, it's not; I should never talk to you that way."

"No, I meant—I meant I know why. I get what you were saying. You don't trust Ric and I need to trust you. I understand that."

"I just—I don't…"

"I know," she interrupted and took his hand in hers. "I know. It's really okay."

He looked up at her, regret shimmering in his brown eyes. "I just don't want you to be scared."

"And I'm not, so you definitely don't have to worry about that." She reached over and ran her hand down the side face, stopping to trace his lips. "Seriously, sitting here with you, being with you, I have not been scared. Not once. I want you to know that."

He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand, there were so many thing he wanted to say, things that would have to wait until later, because the second he opened his mouth to talk his cell phone rang. He looked up at her, "I have to get this."

She smiled and leaned back into her seat and took as sip of water from the glass in front of her, "I know. Go ahead."

"Hello. Jason? No, we haven't, there were some distractions. Can't it… Okay, we're on our way."

Emily shot up in her seat before Sonny even hung up the phone. "What? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I guess Stan got some information that Jason wants us to see."

"Can't it wait?" She saw the hesitation in his eyes. "No, of course it can't. If it could you wouldn't be telling me, you'd have just told him we'd see him later. Alright, let's go."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she lifted herself out of the chair. "It's not your fault. Life just has a way of…"

"Don't," he interrupted. "We'll do this one day, I promise."

"No, it's not that. I just—I was having fun. You know, grandfather wasn't that bad and Ric Lansing wasn't exactly fun, but we'd have gotten over it and had a nice dinner and I was looking forward to that. I'm just sad it won't happen tonight. We were so close."

"Hey," he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him, "it'll happen. I promise. One night we'll have appetizers and dinner and, best of all, desert and I'll walk you to our door and we'll do the awkward should we or shouldn't we kiss thing. It'll be great."

"Well," she grinned at him mischievously, "maybe we should do the whole awkward should we or shouldn't we kiss thing now. I'll be great."

"Hmmm. Sounds good to me," he pulled her around the corner of the dinning room, to the bar where there were less people and wrapped his other arm around her waist. "Do you really wanna do the awkward thing or should we just kiss?"

"Just kiss."

"Good plan." He laughed and leaned down so that their foreheads were touching and he could feel her ragged breathe on his own lips.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered just before his lips touched hers and he gently kissed her.

She smiled to herself as she felt his lips touch hers. _Sonny Corinthos, the man who'd had women all around the world thought she was beautiful and he was kissing her._ That was the last thought she had as she gave into the kiss and allowed him for once to take the lead.

"Mr—Mr. Corinthos." Both Sonny and Emily turned their heads to look at the waiter who was standing next to them. "I—I'm sorry. I was just wondering if you and your guest would like to take your dinner's home. I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, that's okay," Emily smiled as she turned to look at the man standing next to them. He couldn't have been more than twenty-five and he looked like he was scared that Sonny was gonna skin him alive right there and considering what he'd interrupted Emily wasn't sure that the waiters fears weren't justified. "I think we'll be alright. We don't need the dinners, but thanks."

"Yes—Yes mam. Thank you, mam."

Emily turned to Sonny and laughed, "He just called me mam."

"Uh huh."

"Awww, poor baby."

"Don't taunt me," he grunted as they made their way out of the _Grille_. "You missed out too, I'm a great kisser."

"Oh believe me, I know, but I'm not pouting like a little girl because we got interrupted."

"Alright, come on," he opened her car door. "Let's go see what your brother wants. It better be good."


	18. Chapter Eighteen

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

Run.

That was all she could think, all she could do. She clung to that one word like a lifeline; if she kept thinking it, kept doing it, then she'd been fine. She wouldn't have to stop, wouldn't have to think, and, most importantly, she wouldn't have to break. She realized as the breath heaved out of her body and burned her throat—leaving the copperish taste of blood behind—that Jason was no longer giving chase. She wasn't sure when she'd lost him but it had to have been sometime between running, literally, out of her shoes and the rain starting to fall. She was soaking wet and the dress that once clung perfectly to her body was now hanging off of her and weighing her down, but she didn't stop. Not for anything. Not for the pain radiating up her legs or the burn in her chest or the knife in her heart, because none of those things mattered. No, the lie was what mattered. She hadn't realized until the fantasy exploded in her face how much she'd clung to it. How much she needed it. But here she was now, beating her feet against the ground below her as she tried to escape everything that meant anything to her and the truth of the situation was making itself clear. Life had been so easy before.

_Before what_, she wondered, _before fifteen minutes ago, before she started down this stupid path…before what? Before the truth?_ And that was the clincher. The truth had done this, because when she lived in the lie then she didn't feel this way. When she could pretend, imagine, a happy family with a mother and a father and a little girl existed, then all was right with the world. But now she had to see what was real. There were no family picnics. She had no real memories of her mother smiling—with no shadows under her eyes, no bad deeds marring her face—as she watched father and daughter laugh and play. Two peas in a cozy little pod. Her father had never pushed her on the swings, never played catch with her; because, he would smiled as he told her mother, _no daughter of his was gonna just play with dolls._ All those things were fantasies and they all had two things in common, they were perfect and they were lies. And if there were any two things that Emily Quartermaine knew about in this world it was perfection and lies. Perfect lies.

It was too bad really, Emily thought as she forced the truth, once again, out of her mind, the night hadn't been all bad.

"_So," Emily smiled as she leaned against the elevator door, "Do you think there is a real problem or is Jason just trying to keep you from stealing my innocence?"_

_Sonny raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, "Your innocence?"_

"_Yes! Why Mr. Corinthos, are you implying that I'm anything short of an angel?"_

"_A fallen angel maybe."_

"_Me? Fallen? Aren't you, Sonny—put-a-bullet-in-his-head—Corinthos, the one who went to Catholic school?"_

"_Yes, but," he grinned as he pulled her off the elevator and spun her so that her back was to the wall and his face was inches from hers, "I never claimed to be innocent."_

_Emily smiled as she leaned forward a little, "Awww. Tell it to the jury."_

_They both turned as the heard a guard standing next to Jason's door clear his throat._

_Sonny grinned and said, "We've been spotted."_

"_Well," Emily laughed out loud and rested her head on his shoulder, "he works for you right? You could just order him to tell Jason he never saw us and we could go to your place instead."_

"_Tempting," he pecked her on the cheek and steered her towards Jason's door, "but no."_

Stupid, Emily thought to herself as she sat down on the edge of the cliff overlooking the water. She'd finally reached a point where she either had to stop running or just go flying off into the night and while the latter sounded slightly more appealing, she thought it wasn't a good idea to make a decision like that when she wasn't feeling up to par. However, not taking a literal leap off a cliff was not keeping her from taking the proverbial leap and reliving the night over. If only she'd realized the hurt that going into Jason's penthouse would cause. If only…

"_Hello, lady and gent," Emily grinned as she walked through the door after Sonny. "This had better be good."_

"_Excuse your sister," Sonny yanked Emily all the way through the door and shut it behind her. "She's had an interesting night. We ran into Edward and the new District Attorney, Ric Lansing, who just happens to be engaged to your sister's best friend…"_

"_Ha! That may be ex-best friend buddy, the four musketeers have yet to sit down and talk."_

_Sonny gave her an appraising look, "You do realize you guys aren't twelve anymore, right?"_

"_Yes, I do, but the four musketeers is not a childish thing. This is serious business now. I mean we aren't just about brownie toast anymore…we're adults."_

"_Yeah, that's why I walked in on Lucky reading an _American Girl_ magazine when I got home."_

"_He was nervous! He didn't think you'd be back before he was gone, and anyway, he was completely adult other than that one little thing."_

"_Yeah, and breaking a vase worth a couple of thousand dollars."_

_Emily rolled her eyes, "You cannot judge us by our most childish member, its mean. Imagine if I judged you by your most childish guard…Max stuck is tongue out at me earlier."_

"_I'm not in a little club with Max…"_

"_Oh yeah, the mob certainly isn't a group of overgrown little boys running around fighting over who has the most toys. Excuse me."_

"_Children!" Brenda shook her head as Sonny and Emily stared at her, "You two are here for a reason."_

"_Sorry Mom, didn't know we were supposed to be getting a speech from Dad. Next time we'll be good."_

"_Cute," Brenda grimaced and motioned for them to sit down, "but how about you just chill for a second, this is important."_

_Emily looked from Brenda to Jason, noticed the severe looks on both of their faces, and suddenly began to worry. "Okay, what's going on here? Did something bad happen? Is Michael okay?"_

"_Yeah," Jason answered quickly, "he's fine; just—just sit down, okay."_

_Emily nodded and unconsciously reached out for Sonny's hand as she took a seat on the couch, "Alright, we're sitting, what's the problem?"_

"_Stan came by a little while ago…"_

"_Did he find something on Nikolai?" Emily asked._

"_No," Jason looked to Sonny, worry etched on his face. "Sonny and I had him looking into something else."_

"_Jason…" Sonny tried to keep his voice neutral, but he wasn't doing a very good job of it. They'd promised each other that they'd talk over whatever Stan found together and then decide on how to handle it. _What was he doing?

"_I know," Jason gave him a looked and then turned to Emily. "We had Stan look into your past to see if he could find anything…just in case."_

"_Just in case what," she asked, hurt shimmering in her eyes. "Just I case I'm a big liar? Just in case I'm hiding something from you? I thought we dealt with this stuff Jase, I thought you trusted me."_

_Sonny turned to Emily and looked in her eyes. "We do trust you, completely. We just didn't trust the FBI. We wanted to be sure they really had information on your father, we wanted to be sure there was information to be had, we just didn't want you getting hurt…"_

"_Alright," Emily shook her head in understanding and then looked up to Jason. "So if we're here then that must mean there was something to find. So…what is it? Do you know who my father is? Is he alive? Dead? What? What did Stan find?"_

"_He found your birth certificate."_

"_Is that all? Geez, Jason, if he wanted that he could have gotten it from Monica and Alan. You interrupted…" Emily let herself speech wonder off as reality set in. "Of course that isn't it. You wouldn't have made it sound so important if that was it. You wouldn't look so worried either. I'm sorry, keep going; I guess it's better to just rip the band aid off."_

"_What?"_

_Brenda put her hand on Jason's shoulder and smiled at him, "Just tell it all to her at once. No sugar coating."_

"_Alright," Jason scrubbed his hand down his face. "The truth is that Stan found two birth certificates. One is the same as Monica and Alan have, the one you've always believed was right, and the other one…"_

"_Go ahead," Brenda urged him on after he'd trailed off. _

"_The other one, the one we think is probably the real one, is a year older and has Lorenzo Alcazar listed as your father."_

"_Oh," Emily smiled and eased back into the couch. "Is that all?"_

"_Emily," Sonny looked at her questioningly and tried to reach out for her. _

"_No," she shoved his hand away, "I mean this isn't that horrible right? So, I'm a year older than I thought…I guess that means all the drinking I did when I was twenty wasn't illegal after all. And Alcazar seems like a good guy, right? I mean Alan and Monica aren't going to like him much, but who says they have too? Who says I have to? He's technically only a sperm donor, Alan has been my father for years now and before that there was…" She trailed off for a second and allowed herself a second to breathe. "As I was saying, before that there was Daniel Bowen. I mean neither man is a stellar example of what a father should be, but Alan's done pretty good by me and…Alan. Oh, god Jase, what am I gonna tell him?"_

"_Don't worry about that right now," Sonny did put his arm around her this time and didn't allow her to shove it away. _

"_Your right," she shot up off the couch and started pacing. "Stan could be wrong. Right, Jase? Stan could just be wrong this time. Couldn't he?"_

_He wanted to tell her yes so badly he could barely stand it. Anything to take that looked of fear and defeat off of her face, anything to bring back the tough as nails girl he'd gotten to know since she came back to him, but he knew better. Lying would only postpone the pain and make it that much worse. So he said it, one simple word, "No."_

_Sonny and Brenda didn't realize what was happening until Emily was at the door leading to the emergency exit and Jason was out the penthouse door after her. They both started to follow suit, but neither made it to Jason's penthouse door before they realized they'd never catch up. _

"_She'll be okay, right?"_

_Brenda looked at Sonny and realized that for the first time in a long time he was worried and vulnerable, he looked like a little boy. _

"_I don't know Sonny, I think—I think it'll take a while, but we'll all be there for her. We'll make it okay. We have too."_

"_Yeah."_

"_Hey Sonny," Brenda smiled at him a few minutes later as the both sat waiting for something, anything, to happen. _

"_Yeah."_

"_Wanna hear some good news?"_

_He inclined his head toward her and smiled, "Sure."_

"_I'm pregnant."_

"How the hell did I end up here," Emily grunted as she heaved herself up off the ground and examined her surroundings. Not only was she alone, but she was alone somewhere that she hadn't been many times before, and had never been without someone else. The Quartermaine's, in all their insanity, had one good rule: No going to the cliffs alone! Looking back on her teenage years and the many rebellions she'd staged, Emily realized that she'd never once argued that point. "Could be because then I was smart enough to know that getting stuck, alone, in the dark, with no cell phone and no one who knows were you are is just stupid. Well," she muttered as she started walking, "at least I've got a little time to think."

And think she did. She searched her memory like it was a database, hunting for any files, any conversations she'd had with her mother that were about her father. She wanted to know which were half truths and which were half lies. She wanted to know which were about the man she'd been lead to believe was her father and which were about the man who probably was her father.

"_Mommy…" A young girl with bright brown eyes looked up at her mother and smiled._

"_Yes, sweetie."_

"_What was Daddy like when he was younger?"_

"_Is this question gonna help you on your homework?"_

_The little girl looked around slyly, "Maybe."_

"_Maybe how?"_

"_Well we're supposed to write about who we are and Daddy was half of who I am, right? So what was he like?"_

_Paige sighed as she looked at her daughter grinning up at her. There was no way to get out of this conversation. "Like you," she answered thoughtfully, "He was quiet, sweet, serious, curious, and very smart. He was the most beautiful man I'd ever met and when I was with him he made me feel like the most interesting and beautiful woman in the world. He'd stare at me with his big brown eyes and I'd think anything was possible."_

"_That must have been before you guys got sad, huh?"_

"_Yeah baby," she kissed her daughter's forehead. "That was a long time ago, when we were both much less sad."_

"_Okay." Emily waited a beat and then looked up at her mother again, "Mommy?"_

"_Yes, Em."_

"_Daddy's eyes were blue."_

_Paige smiled sadly, "I know."_

Emily tried to remember how old she was when that conversation took place, eight maybe nine. It was certainly after the one that they'd had in the car that she'd remembered earlier, after Paige had told her that Daniel Bowen wasn't her father. So why had it taken so long for her to remember that, to realize it? Why had it taken her so long to even know she had a father out there to look for, let alone realize that he was a mobster? What made her forget that Daniel Bowen wasn't her father? Had she known all along and just blocked it out? What was she missing?

"_Dammit Paige, tell me!"_

_Emily squeezed further back into the corner of her room as the yelling below her, between her parents, got louder and scarier. _

"_What do you want me to say," she heard her mother ask. _

"_I want you to tell me what you talked to him about!"_

"_Nothing, I swear."_

_She could hear her father's voice becoming more labored…more aggressive, "For two hours you talked about nothing?"_

"_He checks in every month Daniel. What do you want me to say? It's the same every time. _How am I? How are things? Do we need anything? How is Emily? _Stuff like that."_

"_Why is he asking about her? She isn't his daughter."_

"_She isn't you're…"_

"_Don't," Emily could barely make out the words now and she didn't know what to do. A part of her, the part she didn't quite trust or understand, told her to stop them, because the quiet was worse than the yelling. Yelling meant he was angry, out of control, and his temper would be quick. But silence meant he was thinking, and worse, it meant he was in control. She crawled to her bedroom door and slowly opened it as she strained to hear more…_

"_You don't want to go there Paige. I put food in her mother and a roof over her head. You don't want to tell me I'm not her father. I might just decide to stop taking such good care of her."_

"_You don't take care of her anyway," Paige shot back and Emily cowered a little more. Why was her mother pushing so hard? Didn't she know what would happen? "_**He**_ takes care of her._ **He**_ puts food in her mouth and a roof over her head. Your job is to baby-sit."_

Nikolai, Emily thought. They'd been arguing about Nikolai. She'd always remembered that one because it was the first time she'd ever heard them yell like that, the first time she'd ever heard her mother cry alone in her room after she thought everyone was asleep. But how, she wondered, did she know that Daniel being quiet was worse than him being loud and what happened after Paige had delivered that last shot? Had he hit her mother? Or had they realized that Emily was in the stairway listening? Why did that memory end there?

"_What are you doing out of bed young lady?"_

_Emily stood up from where she'd been crouching at the window and smiled up at her father, "Just looking."_

"_Looking for what?"_

"_Mommy, I heard her leave. Where did she go?"_

"_She had some business to handle. Grown up business," Daniel said as he leaned over and picked the little girl in front of him up off the floor._

"_I'm growed up. I'll be five tomorrow."_

"_I know you will and that's why you're supposed to be in bed. Don't you know that little girls who don't do as their told don't get their birthday presents?"_

_Emily looked up at her father and, for the first time in her very young life, did not want to be in his arms. He looked mean to her, not like her daddy was supposed to look. _

"_Was I really bad," she asked as she leaned away from him a little, her lip quivering. _

"_Not too bad," he answered as he tried to pull her closer, but she squirmed away. "But you don't want to pushed me too hard do you sweetheart? I might not be so happy for your birthday tomorrow."_

_Tear shown in the girl's bright brown eyes and she shook her head solemnly, "Can I go back to bed?"_

_Daniel let her slip out of his hands and land lightly on the floor, "Go ahead."_

_Emily ran up to her room, curled up in her bed, and stared wide eyed and silent into the dark until she heard her mother come in and settle into her room with her father. A few minutes after they closed their door she drifted off to sleep and dreamt about the wonderful presents she would get the next day, the incident with her father tucking itself away tightly in the back of her mind. _

"The night before," Emily shivered, not from the cold, as she continued walking. She hadn't remembered getting out of her bed that night, but she clearly remembered that next day, because it had been the first time her father, not her father she corrected, Daniel Bowen. It had been the first time Daniel Bowen had stepped over the invisible line that had been drawn in their home and taken his anger out on her. It had been the first, but certainly not the last, time she'd seen darkness in his eyes and felt anger in his heart.

"Hey."

Emily jump nearly out of her skin as she whipped around to see the person standing behind her. "Jesus, Jason," she heaved out a breath as she shoved at him. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry, I've been behind you for a couple of minutes now. You seemed…dazed. I didn't want to interrupt."

"Oh," she looked around and realized she was nowhere near the side of the cliffs anymore. "Uh, how—how did you find me?"

"I was still pretty close behind you until you headed this direction. I figured the cliffs were the only thing out this way and we might need my bike. I didn't know it would take so long to pick up on your trail again. You're pretty good."

"Yeah," Emily looked around and grimaced. "Where's the bike."

Jason nodded and pointed to the left, "That way. I didn't want you to hear it and…"

He trailed off and she realized what he meant. He didn't want her to haul ass in the other direction and get herself even more lost than she already was. "Yeah, thanks."

She stared at him for a second and then looked down and kicked at the ground. "I'm a—I'm sorry. I didn't mean to run like that."

"No problem."

"So what? You gonna take me back now?"

"Not if you don't want to."

"I—I, uh, I don't really know what I want. Was there more? I know I left sort of…" She trailed off and Jason nodded his head. Yeah, they both knew, she'd hauled ass out of there as fast as possible.

"No. That was it. I mean, there was more proof and stuff, Stan was pretty sure, but that was all."

"So what do you think? Is it true? Is he my father?"

Jason looked at her for a second and she wished, not for the first time, that she could read him a little better. When he wanted someone to know what he was feeling it was pretty clear, but when he was being coy and patient Jason who let people figure things out on their own it was like reading a Physics book in some unknown language. Impossible.

"Yeah. I think it's true."

"Me too," she kicked at the ground in front of her again and then looked back up at him. "This sucks."

Jason smiled at his sister and reached out to take her hand, "You've dealt with worse."

"I have? When?"

"You remember when Edward found out you were gonna be Michael's godmother? That was…stressful."

Emily laughed out loud and squeezed his hand, "You mean when he and the rest of the family showed up at the christening and Robin had to talk you into letting them stay? That was not as bad as this. Try again."

"Alright well, I don't remember this, but AJ told me once that you had to yell at them when they were deciding to adopt you. He said you put them all in their places and then stormed out of the room."

"Yeah, yeah, I did that. God, Jase, I don't know what's worse here, having to tell them the truth or having to deal with Lorenzo Alcazar. Do you think he knows?"

"I don't know," he pulled her a little closer, wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. "You don't have to deal with all of this tonight. There's tomorrow and the next day…or never. I promise I won't let anyone force you into anything. You've just gotta trust me."

Emily leaned into Jason's arms and breathed a sigh of relief for the first time. He was right; all she had to do was trust. Him and Sonny and Lucky and her family, they wouldn't let anyone hurt her. And maybe this one time, the best case scenario would be the one she got. Maybe. "I do Jase, I trust you completely."

He held onto her for a second longer, then pulled away and nodded toward where he said his bike was. She smiled and walked along beside him in silence until they reached a break in the trees and she saw his bike.

"Jase," she pulled on his hand and stopped him on the edge of the trees. She'd been wondering something since her memories started coming back, since she'd realized she'd been missing some time and she figured it was best to ask him when he was in a good mood and all about making her happy. "Can I—Can I ask you a question?"

He turned to look at her and nodded his head, "Yeah."

"Do you ever wish—Do you sometimes—Do you ever think about your memories? The ones you don't have anymore?"

"No, not really."

She looked at him a little dejected and started walking towards his bike, "Alright. Thanks."

"Wait," he jogged after her. "Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

She climbed onto the bike and he stayed, standing in the street, staring at her and waiting until she could barely tolerate it.

"What?"

"Why did you ask?"

"It's just—there are some things I've been remembering and some things I know I don't remember and I've been thinking about that a lot. Like how is it possible that I'm a year older than I thought I was? I remember every one of my birthdays, every one. I just don't really understand all this. That's all."

Jason looked down and mimicked her earlier actions by kicking the ground. He looked back up at her and made a decision.

"There are things I can do that I don't remember learning. Medical things, normal things, sometimes I'll eat something that he ate and I'll recognize it. Not liking it or hating it, I won't even remember eating it…I'll just recognize it as something that belongs to him. Is that what you mean?"

"Maybe, sort of, but it's like all those things for me are trying to come back alive. Like I'm supposed to remember them and lately I feel like they are trying to fight their way out of my head. Sometime I feel like I'm going a little crazy. It's sort of like watching a movie and living your life, but at the same time and the movie sometimes crosses over or takes hold of me and…I don't know. It's like literally reliving my past, except there are things I don't remember so it's happening for the first time."

"Maybe you should talk to someone."

"What? Like a shrink? No way. The FBI tried to make me do that and I hated it."

"I know," he pinched the bridge of his nose and remembered the times that the Quartermaine's tried to convince him to see someone, but his memories weren't coming back and hers were. She wasn't him. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Her fears weren't his fears, her experiences weren't his experiences. Maybe, hopefully, his problems wouldn't become hers. "I understand where you're coming from and if you say no then that's it, but maybe, maybe there is someone who can help. If nothing else, maybe they can tell you why this is happening and where that year of your life went. Just think about it."

"Alright," she agreed as he climbed onto the bike in front of her. "Jason?"

"Yeah."

"What if I go see someone and they tell me I'm crazy or they tell me they can't get the memories back. Then what?"

"Then we'll deal with it, but you aren't crazy."

"Okay. But what if…"

"I thought you trusted me," he interrupted.

"I do." Emily thought about what he was saying for a second and laid her head on his back as they sped through the streets of Port Charles. If he found someone for her to talk to, if he liked them, then she could trust them. All she had to do was trust him. Just trust him. "I do."


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

Authors Note: Okay, I know, I know, I keep saying I am gonna get these out quicker and this time may have taken me the longest. I am so sorry. But I am back now and really working hard on this. Part of the problem has been that I have actually quit watching GH (cause it sucks major ass) and so I had to amp myself up to continue writing a GH fic. But I am back in the saddle now and things are gonna get good. BTW, darling readers, you may want to take a look back at previous chapters, **I have done some editing and I have corrected some big mistakes**. Other than that…read on…

Oh, PS, this is my first attempt and anything even resembling smut of any kind (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) so BE KIND. Especially considering that I tried my hardest to do it within the bounds of rules.

Also, and I know I told you to read back through the previous chapters, but I'll just let you know this now—Emily's alias Joey DeMerra is now Corey Wilson. The Corey part you should understand now, for her aunt and the Wilson part because I finally remembered Dead Ted's last name.

* * *

"Where do the female members shower?" Emily asked as she smiled up at Sonny. She had been standing at the edge of the boxing ring for a little less than a minute and he hadn't said anything to her, though she was sure that he had sense her presence as soon as she walked through the gym doors. The facility was state of the art and she was impressed with it. It was a throw-back to old school exercise. There were no high tech Pilate's machines or fruit bars, just hard floors, strong equipment, and the faint smell of a pool that she knew was in the basement, though she saw no way to get to it. 

Sonny dismissed his sparring partner with a wave of his hand and hopped down off out of the boxing ring so that he was standing in front of her, smiling. "We don't have members; this is a private facility for my employees."

"No one wonders why people who work at a coffee warehouse need a firing range," she asked as nodded her head toward the locked door that she walked passed when she came in.

"They hunt." Sonny shrugged and leaned back against the pole behind him.

"With handguns?"

"I didn't have to answer all of these questions when I got the permit to build the place."

"You didn't get the permit. A man name Joe Ericson did."

Sonny gave a quick nod to the man he had been sparring with, who was leaving, and then turned back to Emily and stared at her without saying a word.

"So.." Emily smiled, suddenly acutely aware that they were alone, as she drew out the word, "where do your female EMPLOYEES shower? You do have female employees at the coffee warehouse, don't you?"

"Same place as the men."

"Really? And they are okay with that?" She asked, baiting him.

"If they want to work out here they are. I've had to pay for a couple of memberships at other places but…"

"But," she interrupted, "it's a small price to pay for privacy and free reign."

"Exactly."

"So how do you stop people from getting frisky in the showers?"

"I don't."

"The family that plays together…?"

"Something like that."

"Ever make use of that rule yourself?"

"You don't know?"

"Her name was Mary," Emily grimaced as she looked down at her feet. Of course, she'd known he'd made use of that rule, she knew exactly what his company gym would look like before she'd entered; the FBI got the layout almost before Sonny himself did. The designer was an agent of theirs. "I think you knew here as Jesse though. She was in her early thirties, a brunette, of course, and if I remember correctly—which I do—she helped you find this place. You thought she was a realtor. She wasn't. Of course she wasn't a designer either. Didn't you ever wonder why she did so well with this place?"

"No," he answered as he clinched and unclenched his fists. He hadn't known about her. He had known, of course, that the FBI had sent women to try to get close to him over the years, but she had slipped under the radar. Good thing he hadn't been interested in long term relationship then. "If you knew about her then why did you ask?"

"Wanted to see if you'd lie."

Sonny grunted and walked over to the table where his cell phone and gun were carefully placed.

"What are you doing," Emily asked as she followed him.

"Setting up a meeting with Alcazar. I'm sick of you taking your anger out on me."

"No," she walked over and snatched the phone out of his hand. "Please. I'm not ready to deal with that yet."

"Your not ready yet," he repeated and walked over to her to take the phone out of her hand and stick it in his pocket. "It's been a week—you get bitchy with everyone, you don't sleep and if you do your nightmares wake us both up, you won't call him, you won't talk to anyone and when I finally get a little time away you hunt me down and pick a fight."

"Sorry," she whispered, backing away. "I just, uh, I wanted…I'll go."

"I don't want you to leave." He reached out for her and pulled her back to him so that his arm was across her chest.

"Then what do you want?"

"Come on," he walked around her and let go of her arm. "Let's get you geared up."

"What are we…why?" She asked as she followed blindly behind him, back to the boxing ring.

"Aggression therapy," Sonny answered as he wrapped her hands carefully, jumped into the ring, and pulled her up behind him.

"We don't need the guard thingies for our heads," she asked as she stood across from him.

"The guard thingies…" he trailed off and shook his head. "I thought the FBI trained you."

"Not in boxing, not really. I mean I could hold my own in a street fight, but mostly I learned how to put people directly down—before they could put me down. Mostly that means staying as far away as possible. I can throw a punch perfectly fine if I need to, but I never actually boxed."

"And you won't be today," he smiled and tapped her gloves with his bare hand. "Hit my left hand two jabs and a left hook."

She nodded and threw two jabs, but as she reached around for the right hook he bobbed and moved his hand.

"Not fair," she laughed and stepped back. "I didn't know you were gonna move."

Sonny shook his head at her. "Do you usually fight with people who tell you what they are gonna do? Try it again."

This time she threw the two jabs and was ready for him to move his hand when he reached out and shoved her back instead.

"Okay," she stepped back again, trying to regain her footing. "I'm sure you said no sparring. How does that follow with your shoving me?"

"I also didn't say I would stand here and let you beat the shit out of me," he answered. He knew he was pissing her off, but it was the only thing he could think to do. If he let her anger simmer any longer then he'd want to fight her for real. "Anyway, I didn't shove you that hard, you should have been ready for that."

"Fine," she grunted stepping back into a fighter's stance. "Let me get this straight: we're not sparring, you can move, and you can shove me. Anything else?"

"No."

"Good," she answered and then struck him with a right hook before sweeping his legs out from under him.

Sonny hit the ground with a loud smack and smiled inwardly before saying, "This is boxing, not Tae Bo or karate or whatever else the FBI taught you, we don't use our legs as weapons."

"Fine." She knew that. She just wanted the satisfaction of hitting him once when he didn't see it coming and, she suspected, he probably knew that was exactly what she did it for. "Get up. It was two jabs and a hook, right?"

"Left," he answered and dogged her next punch.

They played around for a while, her boxing and him ducking her and shoving back every once in a while until they were both sweaty and laughing.

"You know," Emily stepped back, her breath heaving out of her body, "you might get more out of this if you fought back a little."

"No."

"Why not? You scared of a girl?"

"I'm not hitting you."

"Why?"

"I just won't."

"Okay," she said sobering up and stepping away from him further. "Sorry I asked. But I really won't break and not even Jason could get mad at you." He didn't respond and she took that to mean the discussion was over. "Alright. No sparring. So how did you get into this whole boxing thing anyway?"

Sonny leaned back on the ropes next to her and swiped his arm over his forehead to brush off some of the sweat before he answered her. "Joe Scully. When I met him I was young and I thought I was tough. I'd get into fights all the time. Joe finally told me I had to stop, because I was drawing to much attention to myself. He took me to a gym and told me that there I could hit whatever I wanted to. It helped."

"Your anger, the aggression," she broached the subject carefully, not really asking a question, "It was because of Deke."

"Mostly," he answered nonchalantly and leaned back further into the ropes. If he had to talk about his childhood to get her to talk about hers then so be it. "My mom was still with him. I'd go visit and she'd have a black eye or a split lip, and she'd make me promise not to go after him."

"I drowned it," Emily commented as she stared off into space. She knew was he was doing, trying to get her to talk, but mostly she didn't care. "The anger. When I first started remembering what happened how abusive…he was, I started drinking—a lot, too much. Not alcoholic quality or anything—I'll never let myself be an addict like that again—but enough that the first thing Tommy did was get rid of any alcohol I had in my room. Most of the other agents didn't really care, they didn't know what to do with an emotional teenage girl. Tommy didn't really know what to do with me either, but he cared enough to try. Mostly though, he treated me like he treated everyone else, like an adult. I'm not sure what would have happened had he not stepped in."

At some point, she wasn't sure when, she walked over next to him and their shoulders were nearly touching. She didn't want to continue on with this, but hell, he'd shown her his cards hadn't he? Her turn, she thought before her internal, and annoying dialogue was interrupted by him sharing, yet again.

"…I would have killed him." She caught the very end of his sentence and nodded, she understood. He probably would have.

"I'm not sure how _he_ died," Emily took up the conversation, not bothering to clarify who _he_ was. Sonny knew. "I can't really remember. Paige always said it was a car accident. Sometimes I think I remember it being a bomb, but other times it's something else all together. A gunshot wound. An actual accident. I don't know what it was, but I think I was there. I think I saw it.

"For a long time I remembered him being my father," she continued on and leaned into Sonny's shoulder, basking in the warmth that was vibrating off of him. Or maybe that was anger. Either way, it calmed her. "I didn't remember what he'd done, but I realized when Alan became my dad that I'd never really known a father's love before. Alan may not be perfect, but I swear whenever I get around him I feel like a little girl and he's my protector. He's larger than life. You know? Mostly I think he's invincible."

Sonny laughed and Emily had no clue why until he starting talking, "He hit me once about a week after you disappeared, back when we thought it was business related. I felt like the whole right side of my head exploded."

"I'm sorry. For every—…"

"I know," he interrupted, smiling. "That wasn't my point. My point was that I wasn't angry, I was impressed. He really loves you."

"Yeah."

Sonny ignored the sadness in her voice and continued on, she needed to hear this, "At the reception Brenda made Jason have, after they got married, he shook my hand—thanked me for not standing in their way. You could have knocked me over with a feather; Alan Quartermaine shook my hand and thanked me for something."

"So what's your point? If he can be nice to you sometimes then he won't be pissed at me for having another father? What about grandfather, he's never nice to you."

"He can be," Sonny laughed as he reached out and pulled her into his arms, "when he thinks no one is watching."

"Yeah?" Emily smiled at him. "And what about you? Who are you when you think no one is watching?"

"Me? I'm the same all the time."

"Nah, I don't buy that."

He bent his head to hers, suddenly serious, and allowed their foreheads to touch before he took a deep breath and asked, "Why did you come here tonight?"

Emily tried to pull back, but he held her tighter and she realized, too late, that she wasn't getting out of this one. "I came to find you."

"Why?"

"To apologize, I've been I bitch lately."

"You've apologized already, why are you still here?"

"Because I…you know why I'm still here?"

"Do I?" He titled his head and studied her face. He thought he did, but he needed to be sure.

"I want…" Why couldn't she just say it? "You know what I want."

"Hmmm. I do," he pushed himself off the ropes and leaned into her further, pushing her back with him, and let his lips hover over hers. "But if you can't say it, you shouldn't be doing it."

"I want you to touch me."

"Where?" He asked and let his thumb slide down the side of her face. "Where, Emily?"

"Everywhere," she answered and leaned forward to kiss him.

He clucked his tongue and pulled back just enough that she couldn't reach him but he could still feel the heat emanating off of her in waves, "I thought you said you wanted me to touch you. Are touching and kissing the same thing?"

"Fine," she groaned, frustrated. "I want you to kiss me, even though they are obviously the same damned thing."

"Kiss you huh," he smiled, ignoring her outburst. "Where? Here?" He kissed her eyelids as they fluttered closed. "Or here?" He planted a chaste kiss on her lips. "Or how about here?" He smiled and latched onto the pulse in her neck.

"There. Please there."

"I thought you'd like that." He smiled against the soft skin on her throat. "Want more?"

She laughed, half annoyed, half incoherent. "You know I do."

"Come on," he'd left her standing in the middle of the ring and it took all his control not to laugh at the confused look on her face as he lifted the ropes and motioned her through. "We need to get some of this sweat off."

"But…but…What if I'm happy here?"

"You'll be less happy tomorrow when security runs back tonight's tapes and has a nice little surprise."

"Good point," she smiled as she slid through the ropes and let her pull him behind him to the locker room. "What about the showers though? And the locker room?"

"Security free."

"You just think of everything, don't you?"

She smiled at him as they both walked into the locker room, as soon as she saw the showers she started to strip off her shirt, but she stopped short when he carefully put his hand over hers.

"What?" She turned to look at him, surprised. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he turned her around, grabbed the bottom of her shirt, pulled it over her head and smiled as he walked her back into a wall. Her back hit the tile and she surged forward, trying to get away from the cold rippling across her back.

"You've done this before," she said smiling at the mischievous look in his eyes.

"And, I think, if I'm a very good boy, I'll get to do it again."

Emily leaned forward to kiss him and, again, he moved out of her reach and allowed his hands to wander down her curved hips and to the zipper on her jeans. He slowly moved his thumbs up and toyed with her bellybutton and she let her head fall back, but kept the rest of her forward to keep from reacting to the tile again.

"Still in control," Sonny said, mostly to himself, as he noticed her swaying away from the tile behind her. "Not good enough."

Emily knew what he was doing, knew he was using every weapon in his arsenal to try and get her to give up control to him, but it wasn't going to be that easy. "It's not gonna work."

"What's that," he asked, knowing exactly what she meant, as he slid her zipper down.

"This game you're playing. I'm not gonna be just another woman who you seduce and control."

"Good to know," he smiled and pulled her away from the wall and back into his arms. "Now can I tell you something?"

"Go ahead," she grinned, but stayed on edge.

"I'll let you have control over whatever you want," he whispered in her ear. "If you don't want to call Alcazar—Fine. If you want to come to every business meeting I have—Fine. You want to be an equal at the negotiating table? Great, I'm learning to trust and value your input anyway. I don't think of you as anything less than an equal, but when we make love you will not rush me and you will not turn it into a power struggle. Cause sweetheart, I'll win. Everytime. Count on it."

"Is that supposed to scare me?"

"No," he laughed. "God you challenge me. Never in my life have I wanted to shake a woman as much as I want to shake you sometimes."

She frowned and gave him a decidedly girl shove that barely moved him, "Well if you want to shake me so badly then what are we doing here?"

"I want to make love to you more, much more," he laughed again, gripped her hips, and skimmed his lips over her jaw. He eased her bra strap over her shoulder and skimmed his teeth over her soft, pliant skin.

She wanted to be insulted, but the ball of lust that was tightening in her belly made it very hard. Instead she settled for a grunt and a shove that she knew wouldn't move him, "Why can't you just…What are you doing?"

"Unhooking your bra," he answered nonchalantly and began to unsnap the first fasten.

"I know what you are doing? Why are you doing it?"

He looked up at her, gave her and obvious look, and continued on.

"Okay, okay, I know that too…" she began and was cut off as she felt the bra begin to fall from her shoulders. She lunged forward so that her chest was pressed up against his, holding the tiny, silk slip of fabric in place.

"Problem?"

"Yes."

"What is it?" He was more that a little amused at her sudden uncertainty.

"Well, it's just…" she stopped unsure of what her issue was, when inspiration hit her. "I'm gonna be completely naked before you even take off your shoes."

"Fine," he said and kicked off both of his shoes. "Better?"

"No! You know what I meant."

"I do," he stepped away from her carefully so that the bra fell from her shoulders.

Emily threw her arms over her chest and glared at him, annoyed. She didn't know why, but suddenly she was very shy.

"I want to see you," Sonny said and stared into her eyes.

"I'm right in front of you. Are you blind?"

"Move your arms," he answered, trying his best not to argue with her.

Emily shook her head and stepped back again.

Sonny moved forward and put his hand carefully on her shoulders. He approached her as someone might a wounded animal, careful that she might have summoned up enough anger to strike out at him. "Move your arms. I promise not to look until you tell me it's okay."

Emily slowly dropped her arms and twined them back around his neck as she shook her head, saying, "I don't know what's wrong with me. It's not like I've never done this before."

Sonny nodded and softly kissed her. "Don't worry so much," he pulled back just enough to take his shirt off without allowing his eyes to ever leave hers.

"I guess I should take my shoes of now too," Emily grinned and kicked off each of her tennis shoes as he had done minutes before.

"So now we're even." Sonny laughed.

"Uh huh," Emily answered and abruptly continued on, "You could look down now…if you wanted to."

He didn't look down. Instead he stared, very seriously, into her eyes and ran his hands down the sides of her torso. He hooked his finger into her jeans and slid them down her long, lean legs, careful not to pull her underwear along with them. He pulled her socks off and then pulled each leg out of her jeans before working his way back up and stopping to kiss behind each knee and the top of her black boy shorts.

"Damn your good at this," Emily groaned and leaned back into the wall, welcoming the cool tile on her heated skin.

Sonny laughed and finally took a step back to get a good look at her. She taken Bella to the salon a few days before and now she was "sporting," as his little sister had so eloquently put it, toe nails that were polished light pink. She had the legs of a dancer—muscular, long and tan—and her thighs were a little larger than most of the women he'd dated, but he knew, could practically feel, how perfect they would fit around his waist. Her little boy shorts hung low on her hips and his fingers itched to slide them off of her. The taut muscles of her stomach, a stomach that was shaped by at least 200 crunches a day, were quivering and that turned him on more than she could possibly know. Her breasts were full and pert and he ached to feel them heavy in his hands. And then there was her face—the lips of a fallen angel and whiskey colored eyes that followed him carefully whenever he moved. And finally there was her, proverbial, crowning glory, that thick, brown hair that slid like silk through his fingers when she was asleep at night and he couldn't resist touching it.

"Beautiful," he murmured and smiled at the confusion on her face.

"Your not so bad yourself," she answer with more confidence than she felt as she stepped up to him and ran her hands over his muscular stomach, scratching lightly just for the enjoyment of feeling him twitch beneath her nails. She ran her hands carefully over his shoulders and anchored them tightly in his thick, ink black hair. "As a matter of fact you look good enough to eat." She leaned forward and nibbled lightly on his lower lip until he finally gave in and swept his tongue into her mouth.

They spent the next few minutes lost in the moment—their fingers clinched in each others hair, the length of their bodies pressed together, and their lips fused. Finally, they broke apart, both of them heaving, both of them feeling the fire in their lungs.

"Well," Emily smiled and leaned forward onto his chest, "this is an interesting development."

"Uh huh," Sonny responded, half listening, as he pushed her back into the showers and began to turn one on.

"Wait," Emily laughed and stepped in front of him. "Your pants. Your socks. Our underwear."

"What about them?"

"We don't have extra clothes here, they need to come off."

"Fine," he unbuttoned his pants and pulled them, his underwear, and his socks off in one fluid motion and threw them onto a bench. Then he pointed in her general direction and asked, "Do you need help with those?"

"No," she laughed and then held her breath as she pulled off her underwear and threw them in the pile with his.

Sonny reached to the wall behind him, turned on the shower, and then turned to look at her, crooking a finger in her direction, "C'mere."

She walked over to him and when they were close enough to reverse their positions he did so and then reached up and tipped her head back and under the water. He smoothed her hair back from her face and lightly kissed her throat.

"That feels good," she groaned.

"Just getting started," he answered and slid his hand down her neck, over her shoulders, and finally cupped her breast in his hands. First, he held them lightly and busied himself with the task of watching all the expressions on her face. Finally he bent his head and latched onto her right nipple and let his thumb lightly flick across its twin.

"Oh god," Emily groaned, certain she could feel every drop of water hit her skin as the nerves of her body came alive. His tongue laved over her breasts and for the first time in a very long time she gave control over to someone else. She didn't notice that his left had left her breast until his fingers slid through the soft curls below her waist and inside of her. She groaned loudly as she reached up to tangle her fingers in his hair and pulled him back to her for another searing kiss.

He'd planned on going slower, seducing her, showing her how good it could be with him, but the untamed aggression rising off her like the steam from the shower was making every inch of him ache to feel her wrapped around him. He slid his finger out of her and never taking his eyes off of hers said, "I want to be inside of you now."

She nodded and he shook his head at her, undeterred.

"No, I need to hear you say it."

"I want you inside of me," she responded and she barely had time to get the words out of her mouth before he gripped her hips and hitched her up between him and the wall in one clean motion. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, and braced herself for what she knew was coming. He searched her eyes for any uncertainty, any fear. He'd been pushing her further and further the whole night, but now he needed to be sure that this was what she wanted.

"Do it," she answered his unasked question.

"Emil…"

"Do it!"

He pushed inside of her in one clean motion and held himself steady as she cried out, "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, just a little, uh, more than I was expecting."

A sly smiled spread across his face and before he could comment she rolled her hips towards him and made him grunt in pleasure.

He slide out of her and then pushed back in as he let his hands roam over her body. He used one hand to hold her arms over her head and one to grip her hips as he looked into her eyes and said, "Let go. I want to hear you let go."

Once again he pulled all the way out of her and stopped so that they were staring into each others eyes, both aware that this was going to be the final step that took them over the edge and both processing that the other was ready. When he was sure that they were on the same page he pistoned back into her and groaned as she met him thrust for thrust. He could feel the tension building in the base of his spine and he took one final look to be sure she was with him as they both fell over the edge and their bodies exploded in sensations that neither of them had ever felt before and neither of them would tell the other about.

…**about ten minutes later….**

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you," Sonny asked as the water from the shower head crashed down on their bodies and felt Emily shake beneath him.

"Oh, I'm fine," Emily answered, laughing as Sonny rolled off of her.

"Then what's so funny," Sonny questioned as he stood up and reached down to pull her up off the floor after him.

"Nothing. I was just thinking how much more fun we could have been having if we'd started doing this weeks ago. I'm really glad that we're both stubborn and don't walk all over each other, but really, there comes a point when it just gets ridiculous. I think I know where that point is now."

"We need to get cleaned up," Sonny shook his head and she finally let him pull her off the floor.

"I'll wash your back if you wash mine," she raised her eyebrows and reached for the new bar of soap that was sitting in the dish in front of her.

They spent the next fifteen minutes washing up and playing with each other—casual touches here, gentle kiss there, and a couple of smacks on the ass courtesy of Emily's new found happiness—until they were nearly prunes.

Emily groaned inwardly as she snapped her bra and pulled on her panties, she turned to him trying to decide if she should go ahead and say what she was thinking and then sucked it up and went ahead with it, "I, uh, I'm on the pill so we don't have to worry about, well, you know."

Sonny sighed and sat on the bench as he ran his hand over his face, it'd had been a long time since he'd been so careless. "About that," he started and then forced himself, as she had just seconds before, to keep talking, "I'm usually a lot more careful."

"Yeah. I, uh, I figured that. Me too. I have to stay healthy to work with the FBI and stuff so I get a litany of tests every month, including HIV, so you don't have to worry…about that."

"I still get tested every six months, but that doesn't excuse—I should have been more careful."

"I was there too. We both should have been more careful. Next time we will be."

"Next time huh," Sonny asked, smiling up at her.

"Yeah, I mean…"

"I know what you mean and I can't wait till next time. I vote for a bed though."

"Hmm. I was thinking the pool table at Jake's or the shower at home, but if you are dead set on a bed then that's fine too, I guess," Emily grinned at him over her should as she pulled on her pants and pulled her shirt over her head.

"Well, I might consider…" he was about to stand up and walk over to her when he heard the phone ring.

"Ugh, unless it's Jason don't answer it."

"It's not me," Sonny said as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the phone.

"Shit," Emily groaned and searched the locker room floor for her cell phone, when she finally found it she checked the name and groaned again. "It's Tommy, I have to answer."

"Go ahead."

"What?" She nearly yelled the question as she flipped open the phone.

"_Hey brat, is that any way to answer a phone?"_

"No, your right. How about this: What the hell do you want from me at midnight? Better?"

"_Eleven-thirty."_

"Tommy," both men could hear the warning in her voice and it was all Sonny could do to keep from laughing since she'd used the same tone when saying his name not too long before, under much different circumstances.

"_I need to see you."_

"About what? Can it wait?"

She could hear the exasperated tone in his voice as he answered and had to choke back a laugh, "_Would I be calling you at this hour if it could wait? Listen, it's important. I've got a girl here who's connected our case—among other things—and I need to run this stuff by you before anyone else gets a hold of it. Okay?"_

"Alright. Where do you want to meet?"

"_You ever heard of a place called Chubbies?"_

"Are you serious?"

"_Emily…"_

"Fine. Give me twenty."

"_Great."_

"I'm sorry," Emily said to Sonny as she hung up the phone. "He just—he says it's important."

"Not a problem," Sonny smiled as he walked over, wrapped his arms around her waist, and nuzzled her neck.

"I know. It's just we finally got out of our own way," she started and stopped when he looked down at her, eyebrows raised. "Okay, we finally got out of my way. But I don't want to leave. I like being in your arms."

"We've got a few minutes…"

"No we don't. If I want to be there on time I need to leave now."

Sonny started at her confused and said, slowly, like he was talking to a child, "The only things that far away—No. You are not going to Courtland Street. That's the middle of Sorel—or Nikolai's now—territory. It's not happening, not without a guard."

"Tommy will be there and besides who would expect me in that part of town?"

"Do you have your gun," he asked shaking his head.

"Yes, sir. I brought a car over here and not my motorcycle so I have a bag in the trunk. I'm armed and dangerous."

"And your cell phone is charged?"

"Full battery."

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this, but okay. Be careful and just know that if you get hurt then I'm shooting your friend."

"Well aren't you just the sweetest," she laughed. "Wanna walk me to my car?"

"Come on brat."

He walked her to her car, gave her a kiss, and watched her drive off, hoping the whole time that he'd made the right decision. It took everything in him not to go back on his promise and have his driver follow her to the seedy dive bar to make sure she was okay, but he knew she would catch the tail and that would be even worse than if something did actually happen to her. She needed to know he trusted her, especially after they'd finally had sex. He shook his head, hoping again that he'd made the right decision and then slid into the car that had been waiting for him.

* * *

"This had better be fucking good," Emily grunted as she slammed the car door and walked around the front of it so that she was standing nearly nose-to-nose with Thomas Marks. 

"You cuss, like a goddamn sailor," Tommy said as she reached up and ran his finger over a dark purple spot on her neck. "What's this?"

"Ugh." Emily batted his hand away and took a step back. "Nothing. Stop looking at me like that. I'm not in the mood."

"Sex complicates things."

He was too calm, too cool, when he said it and his deadpanned face automatically put her on the defensive. "Like you, of all people, get to lecture me on who I should and shouldn't have sex with. You didn't exactly write the book on separating business and pleasure you ass."

"No," he looked down and shook his head. "I guess I didn't."

"Damn Tommy, I didn't mean—I wasn't talking about us. I meant Alexis," she stopped mid-sentence and scrubbed her hands over her face, "and that's still hitting below the belt so I'll just shut up now."

"I meant Alexis too. Come on, there's someone you need to meet."

"I really I am sorry," she almost whispered as she walked behind him into the bar. "Don't be angry with me."

She was always so worried about something being angry with her Tommy thought as he turned around and looked her in the eye, "I'm not angry with you. I'm angry with me."

"Why?"

"Come on, you'll see."

She followed him to the back of the bar and stopped when slid into the booth next to a petite brunette.

"Sam McCall," he said as he leaned back into the booth, "meet Emily Quartermaine. Emily Quartermaine, meet Sam McCall." He gave them a second to size each other up before finally getting annoyed and saying, "Sit down."

Emily sat down in the vacant seat and shot daggers across the table at her mentor, ex-mentor she corrected and groaned inwardly.

"I'm gonna tell her what we've been talking about," Tommy said to Sam and ignored the heated looks Emily was sending him.

"But…"

"You can trust her. Trust me."

"Alright," Sam consented as she tucked a stray section of her dark brown hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture, "but then I want to know what the hell is going on here."

"Deal. Alright, Em, I've been helping Sam look for her biological family. She came to me because we've known each other for a long time. She's the witness from Simon Morris' trial."

Emily took a second to process the new information she'd been given. She knew that the testimony that this woman gave at that trial was the catalyst for what Thomas Marks had become following his daughter's death—she didn't know if she should thank Sam McCall or push her as far away as possible. Tommy had always been her mentor, her friend, her confidant, Emily wasn't dealing too well with the idea that not only might he be someone else mentor, but also that there were things she didn't know about him, things she hadn't thought to ask. Like the name of the woman who had forever changed his life.

"Anyway," Tommy watched the play of emotions cross Emily's face and figured he knew about half of what she was thinking about, the other half, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. I'd probably just piss him off, especially if she was blaming herself for something again, "about six months ago she came to me and told me she wanted to find her biological mother…"

"How long have you known you were adopted," Emily asked, for the first time addressing the other woman.

"Well," Sam laughed humorlessly, "I got my proof about seven months ago when my father—when Cody McCall—died, but I've suspected since my sister was killed and her mother told me that she wished it had been me."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. Most of the time I wish it too, it just sucked hearing it the woman who raised me say it."

Her sister's mother, Emily noted, or the woman who raised her, she never called her, her mother, never even called her by her name. Interesting.

"So your dad died, but not before he told you the truth?"

"Yeah. Death bed confession. It was just like him to tell the truth about something when he wouldn't be around to deal with the consequences of his actions. Anyway," she smiled brightly, too brightly, "I called Tommy and asked for his help and well you know Tommy."

"Yeah," Emily smiled at him sharply, "helpful to the last our Tommy."

"Well shucks ladies, ya'll are bein' to nice," he said and gave both women scolding looks. If they wanted to size each other up, fine, but he didn't have to be in the middle of it.

"So what did you find," Emily asked. "What's all this about?"

"Apparently you know my mother," Sam answered and shot a look at the man next to her. "And so does he."

Emily raised her eyebrows and smiled, "Who's the lucky lady?"

"Natasha Cassadine," Tommy answered and immediately noted the change in her demeanor.

"I'm sorry," she stared at him blankly. "Who?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I just—are you sure?"

"Okay," Sam interrupted. "Who is this woman?"

"I told you…"

"Yeah," Sam interrupted Tommy yet again as he was about to give her the same old answer. "You told me she's someone you and your friend here know. You didn't tell me how, or who she is or how, after months of searching, you happened to come across this information. Or, for that matter, why both of you are so freaked! You didn't tell me any of that."

"Well that last part is what makes this all so complicated…"

"That's what makes this complicated…" Emily interrupted, shocked. "Complicated? Jesus. What the hell? Where did you get the information from, Anastasia?"

"What," Sam looked between them, confused. "Who is Anastasia?"

"No one. Emily was trying to be cute, she failed," he answered and then shot her a look. "Could you be a little more helpful?"

"Sure, sorry. Where did you get the information?"

"Anonymously," he answered cryptically. "The year book, the birth certificate, the adoption papers all just showed up in my hotel room a week ago; even the information I needed to confirm that it was the truth was there."

"You didn't tell me this," Sam said, sending him an accusing look.

"I know. I wanted Emily's input; she knows the family better than I do…"

"Family," Sam interrupted, now more than mildly annoyed. "Like other children, a husband…"

"No," Tommy answered before she could get too far. He hadn't actually, totally, lied to her yet and he was trying his best not to. "No, she doesn't have kids or a husband; it's just, well…"

"Complicated," Emily finished and was shocked and impressed by the pissed off look Sam sent her across the table. She could really come to like this girl. "And you obviously know that. I'm sorry, believe me, I know how you're feeling…"

"Really? You found out your whole life has been a lie too?"

"Yes," Emily answered honestly. "Though I've had a little more time to deal with it. I've known for about four years now that my whole life has been a lie. However, I just found out that I'm probably about a year older than I thought I was and my mother perpetuated all of this crap for reasons that I can't even begin to understand, including allowing me to believe a man who abused us both was my real father. That good enough for you?"

"Yeah actually it is. So how much does this all suck?"

"Oh it sucks pretty big."

"Great," Tommy smiled and looked between them. "Now that you two are getting along I have to go make a quick call. I'll be back."

"What," both women asked simultaneously as he pushed himself away from the booth and started walking.

"I said I'll be back," he threw over his shoulder and continued on. "Talk!"

"Is he serious," Sam asked Emily.

"Looks like," Emily said as the door to the bar closed behind him and she turned back around to face the woman across from her. "Asshole."

"Yeah," Sam agreed and then began tearing pieces off of her napkin. "So…"

"Uh…tell me about yourself. I only know, you know, about the trial and stuff…"

"I'm beginning to think that's all I know too. It's weird huh?"

"What's that?"

"The whole trial thing. If Simon Morris hadn't killed my sister, tried to kill me, I never would have met Tommy. He never would have developed his grudge against Nikolai and met you and we might not be here now—connected by him and, I guess, by my biological mother. It's just weird."

"I wonder…" Emily started as she started putting some very interesting pieces of the puzzle together. She could connect Sam to Simon Morris, Simon to Nikolai, Nikolai to Russia, Russia to the Cassadines—though that one was a stretch—the Cassadines to Alexis, Alexis to Sam…to Tommy…to her…her mother…to Nikolai. The possibilities were endless if you just put the right pieces together. But what were the right pieces?

"Wonder what," Sam interrupted Emily's thought process.

"Nothing," she shook her head and then backtracked. "No, that's not true. It is something…just, could you ask me again another time?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks for not lying."

"Believe it or not," Emily laughed, "I'm trying to cut back on that."

"I know the feeling and I guess in that spirit I should probably tell you than my dad was a con artist—and so am I."

"Is that what this is," Emily asked, looking Sam in the eye, "a long con?"

"No."

"Good. I believe you, mostly cause if it was I would have to kill you and that would piss Tommy off."

"Well, thanks. I guess. So, uh, could you tell me about her—this Natasha Cassadine woman. What kind of name is that?"

"Russian, maybe Greek. Not sure which."

"Oh."

"Sorry, that's a little confusing isn't it? Let me see…she's one of the coolest, toughest women I know. She's really pretty. She's got brown hair, brown eyes, she's loyal—almost to a fault—and caring. She really loves her family…"

"Why would she give me up?"

"I, uh, I obviously don't know the whole story, but I'll tell you what I can about her family. That might help. She grew up in a hard family, women weren't really valued and as if that wasn't bad enough she was also illegitimate and her step mother—Helena Cassadine—is a complete psycho."

"So basically the family is nuts, great, just what I need."

"No," Emily laughed and tried again. "It's not like that, I mean it is—it was—it's confusing. When you were born she would have been very young, very scared. Her family was—maybe still is—very patriarchal. The first son of the first son is really the only person who matters, the only person who gets respect, so the idea of an illegitimate daughter or a cousin, which is what she believed she was at the time, having a child before the eldest son was unthinkable. Especially since you were a girl and illegitimate yourself. I know it's hard to hear, but she and anyone who may have helped her would have thought it was the best way—the only way—to protect you."

"So who would have helped her?"

"Again, I can't be sure, but maybe her father Mikkos. He wasn't exactly a saint, but he would have known that you would be in danger and might have wanted to protect you or Alexis, or at the very least he would have wanted to be sure that no one knew about you. I'm sorry. Uh, then there's Stefan, one of her brothers, a cousin at the time, he can be anal and overprotective and downright wrong, but they have a very strong bond and he definitely would have protected her and her child. I'm not sure who else."

"What about her other brother?"

"Stavros. No. He would have been one of the people you needed protection from—I guess that's assuming he wasn't preoccupied," Emily said and scrunched up her face as she tried to pinpoint exactly when his obsession with Laura would have started. "You can't be too much older than his son, he might have been busy obsessing over Nikolas' mother or trying to freeze the world. I'm just not sure. My history on the family isn't quite that extensive."

"Freeze the world?"

"It's…"

"Complicated," Sam finished. "Who are these people?"

"Well, you've seen the cartoon version of Anastasia right?"

"Yeah, sure," she answered confused, she remembered Emily making a joke about someone named Anastasia earlier.

"Well…assuming that Anastasia died with the rest of her family, if the Russian Royalty was reinstated or whatever then they'd be in charge. Specifically Nikolas would be in charge. Now that the rest of the royal family is dead. I think Cassadines were originally distant cousins or something. Again, not sure."

"No shit?"

"None at all."

"What about the stepmother? Helena."

"Yeah, she's like the last living psycho as far as the immediate family is concerned. She, uh, she's definitely got that whole wicked step mother thing down to an art form. She slit Alexis' mothers—your grandmother—throat for sleeping with Mikkos."

"Damn."

"Yeah, now you see why she may have hidden you."

"Yeah, listen," Sam fidgeted with her fingers, she'd brought this subject up, but hadn't been expecting this sort of information, "could we change the subject? I can't take much more of this right now."

"Sure. How long have you been in town?"

"Not long. A little over a day. Actually I was hoping to meet this Alexis woman I've been hearing about."

"Uh," Emily turned around and looked at the door, hoping Tommy would reappear soon. "Well, I'm sure you will. One way or the other."

"What is she like?"

_Your mother_, Emily thought to herself, but decided that wasn't the best way to approach the subject. "What has Tommy told you/"

"Only good things; that she's strong, beautiful, quirky. I guess she's a lawyer."

"Yeah she works for my brother Jason and Sonny, his boss."

"Right," Sam said slowly, "The, uh, coffee importers."

Emily grinned and said, "I find it hard to believe that any good con woman doesn't know Sonny Corinthos and Jason Morgan."

"No," Sam laughed, "of course I do, especially with Tommy's connect to them and you. I just didn't want to pry. It's none of my business."

"It's not, but that's okay. You adoption is really none of mine and your telling me about it."

"Well Tommy seemed to think you could help so…"

"Yeah. Where is he anyway? Do you think he skipped town?"

"No, he's been on that damn phone all day and he won't tell my why," Sam groaned and the looked anxiously toward the door.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"No. Maybe. I'm not sure. I thought I heard him mention Simon's name earlier, I asked him if he'd heard anything, if he knew where the bastard was, but he just told him I'd heard wrong and that he hadn't said anything about him."

"Huh." Emily turned and looked back at the door, suddenly very worried.

"You think we should…"

Both women froze in their seats as shots rang out from the front door of the bar. The patrons—the few who were there—all scatter toward the back door, pulling both Sam and Emily out of the shocked states.

"Shit," Emily reached behind her and pulled the gun out of her belt, "Look, stay here. I'll…"

Before Emily could finished the sentence Sam was following suit and pulling her own weapon out from behind her black, leather jacket, "No way," she said moving out of the booth. "I can handle myself. Don't worry."

"Alright. Just be careful."

They moved away from the booth and as the walked passed the bartender Emily turned and said to him, "Call 9-1-1 now!"

They reached the door, expecting a second round of gunfire to thunder around them, but everything was silent. Too silent.

"Where is he parked," Emily asked as she peeked her head out the door.

"To the right."

"Okay, good, me too. I'm think the right is our best bet. It'd be more of a comfort zone for him. Can you watch my back if I got out the door first?"

"Yeah," Sam answered and crossed the door to stand opposite her. "On three. One. Two. Three."

They both moved out the door, Emily first with Sam at her back and headed straight to the right. Sam turned around to make sure no one was behind them, but she wasn't surprised to see no one there. Both of them knew that whoever had fired the shots was long gone. There were five cars left in the lot and there were two between the one that Emily drove to the bar and Tommy's, with one more on the other side of his. Both Emily and Sam stayed low and walked passed the first two cars, when they got to Emily's she motioned for Sam to stay in front of them and she was going to the back. Sam nodded and stayed on her path as she watched Emily make her way between her car and the white Taurus next to it.

Emily reached the back of the her car and as soon as she made her way around it she could see Tommy's head sticking out from behind his car, on the right side.

"Shit," she groaned and made her way over to him, signaling to Sam when she saw her stand up. "He's back here!"

Sam ran to the back of Tommy's car just in time to see Emily check his pulse and shake her head, worried. Both women could see the large pool of blood on the pavement below him, but neither were able to see where, on his body, it was coming from. However, consider how much was there, they both knew that there had to be at least two entrance wounds, if not more.

"Hey, hey, hey," Emily said as she placed his head in her lap. "Are you awake?"

Tommy looked up at her and almost smiled, "Hi beautiful."

"Hey, old man," Emily said smiling as she handed her cell phone to Sam and motioned for the other woman to call the police again. When Sam looked at her confused she said, "Call again. This time tell them it isn't a gang shooting and you're with Edward Quartermaine's granddaughter."

Sam nodded without asking questions and made the phone call, her voice drifted around them like background music.

"What are you thinking, getting shot," Emily teased as she looked down at the man in her lap. "Don't you know your getting to old for this sort of thing?"

"So—sorry," he said and she rubbed a hand over his forehead. "Didn't mean to."

"Oh well I guess that's supposed to make it okay."

"Wanted—wanted you two to meet. Needed you to. Sorry…sorry…tool late…you should be…I'm sorry. Blood tells."

"Oh God, oh God," was all Emily heard as she stared down at her mentor bleeding to death in her arms. She wasn't sure if it was her or Sam chanting the words, it was probably both.

* * *

"I'm sorry. What?" Emily looked up and saw Alexis standing in front of her, shell shocked and worried. 

"I said, what do you know," Alexis asked as she sat down in front of the younger woman, trying her best to ignore the coat of blood on her jeans, her shirt, and her hands.

"Uh, not much," Emily answer slowly. "He lost a lot of blood. He was shot in the shoulder and the stomach, but they were taking care of that. When we got here they said something about a complication with his heart—at bullet traveled or something, I'm not sure. My mom is working on him now, I called you right away."

"I know. Have you called anyone else?"

"No. No." Emily looked up at her, confusing shinning in both their faces. "I didn't want them to worry. They're all safe, you know, I didn't want them coming here and not being…safe. I mean I know I called you but…"

"It's okay," Alexis said and looked to her right, finally noticing the petite brunette sitting in the chair next to Emily, also covered in blood.

"Oh sorry, sorry," Emily said, following her eyes. "This is…"

"Sam. My name is Sam McCall. I knew—know Tommy from a murder trial he worked on a while back."

"Yes," Alexis said, recognizing the name. "He told me about you."

"Yeah," Sam smiled tightly. "Me too. I mean about you."

They stared at each other for a few seconds until Emily standing up next to them shocked them out of their reverie.

"Mom."

Monica Quartermaine looked at her daughter and then the other two women, hoped etched on their faces and for the first time in a long time hated her job, "I'm sorry baby. I'm so sorry."


	20. Chapter Twenty

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

She could feel each of the cold, wet drops as they hit her hands, her face, everywhere. It wasn't supposed to be raining, the weatherman had forecasted clear skies and sun, but what the hell did the weather man know? Or anyone else for that matter. A lot of things weren't supposed to be happening. She wasn't supposed to be burying Thomas Marks—not here, not today, not before they finished it and certainly not hundreds of miles away from his daughter. At the very least he should have been near her. It wasn't right.

"It's not right."

"I know," David Fletcher grimaced as he looked over at the young woman. Meeting in a gas station bathroom hadn't been the best idea either of them ever had, but there really wasn't another choice. Not with Tommy dead and the FBI already trying to abandon their deal. "It's the only way though. He knew it would have to be this way. He expected it. If you want to go on with this then no one can know he was working with the FBI; that you are working with the FBI."

"He could at least be buried with his little girl. Screw that honorable FBI send off, he wouldn't give a shit about that anyway. Why can't he be next to her? It's not secret she was his daughter."

"Again, his choice. As far as we know Nikolai doesn't remember the guy who defended one of his goons years ago. I, and Tommy, saw no reason to rectify that. You and the whole Corinthos clan at her grave might bring it up. The FBI…"

"The FBI isn't even gonna give me another damn handler, they don't give a shit."

"I'm here aren't I?"

"As a favor to him," she snapped and turned away from him.

"Yeah," he pulled her arm and turned her back around, "as a favor to him. My dead friend."

"I'm…"

"Don't!" He interrupted. "You know all you have to do is call and we'll be here. The deals for your boys still stand and if you take down Nikolai…"

"You'll be glad to take credit."

"You know the Bureau." He smiled.

"Yeah, I do, which is why I also know that I owe you huge. I'm sure your pull is all that is keeping this going."

"Nah, you'd do it without me. Tommy knew that."

"I'm gonna kill whoever did this to him. You know that right?"

"As an agent and a friend of Tommy's, who would hate to hear you say that, I should tell you not to, but honestly I'd do it too." He rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head. He'd been one of the first agents assigned to Emily Quartermaine and he'd also been the one who recommended Thomas Marks for the job of training her. He knew how close they had become over the years and he hated that either of them had to go through the hell they did, but it had to be done if they wanted to bring Andresj Nikolai down.

"Thanks," she cocked her head to the side and smiled at him, "but you need to get going. This is probably going on record as the longest unaccompanied visit to a gas station bathroom ever."

"Yeah," he laughed and shook his head, "gotta love a unisex with a key though."

"Perv."

"You know it," he laughed and turned back to her suddenly serious. "We'll move him. When all this is said and done we'll have his body moved next to hers. Okay?"

"Yeah." She shook her head as he slipped out the door. She hadn't expected anyone from the FBI to contact her after Tommy died and was shocked, the day before, when David Fletcher called her and told her they needed to meet and that he would get her whatever she needed for as long as she needed. Tommy was always thinking and this situation was no exception, he'd called his old friend a month before they'd left for Port Charles and made sure everything would be taken care of if anything were to happen to him. And lucky for both of them David was just loyal enough and just rebellious enough to follow through on his promise.

Emily wanted to smile as she remembered her incognito bathroom meeting the day before, but the fact that she was leaning over her mentors coffin, ready to drop a red rose on it, put a serious damper on the hilarity of it all. She looked up and realized she was the only one left standing in front of the casket and it was, suddenly or not so suddenly, no longer raining.

"I promise you'll be next to her and both of you will have your revenge," she said before she started to walk away.

"How are you kiddo?" Alexis moved in step with Emily toward the row of limos and cars waiting for them.

Emily turned her head and smiled. Alexis had been right there behind her, in the shadows, for much of the past few days, waiting to see if she needed anything. A shoulder to cry on, a face to bash in, anything she wanted Alexis was ready and willing to provide. "I'm okay. Sad. Upset mostly—he shouldn't be here. He should be with his daughter. He should be alive. And if he has to be dead, his friends should have been here to mourn him."

"You're here. I'm here. That has to be enough for now. And as for his daughter, he is with her, he's just with you too. While you need him."

"Your good at this, but how are you doing?"

"Okay. Sad. Upset, you know."

"The usual."

"I'm gonna miss him," Alexis started and both women slowed down and stood staring at each other. "It seems like I've known him longer. I could have—maybe. I think I was…"

"I know," Emily said as she looked over at Sonny. She knew exactly what it was to feel something strong for someone and not have the words to express what it was.

Alexis followed her eye, saw Sonny, Jason, Ned, and AJ staring each other down and smiled, "I guess you do. How'd you get those two to come?"

"I didn't. Grandmother knew how close I was with Tommy, I think she sent them and Ned still cares about you, he'd want to be here to support you."

"I care about him too. Well," Alexis heaved out a breath and started walking, "come on, let's go stop the four of them from staring holes into each other."

"I'm shocked they're all still alive. Nikolas and Luke too."

"They've gotten better over the years. Laura…what happened with Laura helped with that a lot."

"I see—I also see, or don't see, Stefan."

"He's at Wyndemere," Alexis answered seriously. "Business."

"Of course," Emily smiled and filed that little bit of information away for later.

"Actually Nikolas is going to come to Luke's with me. He said something about an Irish wake, I don't know what that is, but Lucky talked Nikolas into it." Alexis stared off and suddenly added, "I didn't know Luke was Irish."

"He probably isn't," Emily smiled. "He's just an alcoholic."

"What…"

"Nothing," Emily laughed, as Alexis looked at her confused, her voice trailing off. "Just go with it."

"Oh, well, okay, you should come."

"I might make an appearance, but I need to handle something first." _Like your big brother._

"Alright," Alexis smiled tightly and tried her best not to ask what Emily had to do that was more important than remembering a friend. She shook her head and walked over to the four men standing, all but staring holes into each other.

"Hey, kiddo," AJ said as he hugged Emily and smiled at Alexis. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Emily answered, holding on to him a little tighter than was strictly necessary. "Thanks for being here."

"And you," Ned looked over at Alexis. "Are you okay?"

Alexis smiled over at Nikolas waving to her and turned back to Ned and said, "I'm good. I'm gonna..."

Ned watched as she vaguely motioned toward Nikolas and he nodded in agreement, "I'll go with you."

"You should go too," Emily told AJ as she disengaged from his hold and gave him a small shove, "Make sure Luke doesn't pick a fight with him. You know how he loves to piss off as many Quartermaine's and Cassadine's in one day as he possibly can, especially as we get closer to his and Skye's wedding day."

"Alright," AJ laughed and hugged her one more time. "You always were the peacemaker when Ned was too busy to do it."

"So what are you two up to," Emily asked Jason and Sonny as Ned, AJ, and Alexis walked over to Nikolas. "Playing nice?"

"Always." Sonny smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist.

Jason stared across the cemetery at Brenda and tried his best not to feel uncomfortable with Sonny's arm around Emily's waist. He knew that they were supposed to be acting like a couple, he even knew that more and more it was becoming more than just an act, but he was still her big brother and he didn't have to be happy about it. At least in the past she'd always picked annoying little thugs that he could scare, this time he didn't even have that little bit of control. "I, uh, I think I'm gonna take Brenda home. She looks tired."

Emily smiled over at Brenda laughing with Gia and Lucky and said, "Go ahead daddy."

She kissed him on the cheek and watched him walk over to his pregnant wife before turning to Sonny and saying, "God, could he be any cuter?"

"He'll drive her crazy before that kid is born," Sonny grinned over at his best friend and then turned his attention back to Emily.

"Probably. Hey, listen, Luke is having this wake thing…" she had to keep the pleasure out of her voice at the miserable look that crossed his face before she went on. "Don't worry. You don't have to go. But I told them I'd make an appearance and I told Alexis I'd meet Nik at Wyndemere to try and get Stefan to make an appearance. Nik is gonna drop her off at Luke's before going home."

"She really thinks you can talk Stefan Cassadine into going to Luke's?" Sonny asked, confused.

"I think I'm moral support for Nikolas."

"Oh," he nodded, still not quite sure he understood the point behind that, but willing to fall in line with whatever she and Alexis believed, they both knew Nikolas and Stefan Cassadine better than he did. "Okay. Are you sure you don't want me to go?"

"No. Go spend time with Bella, she needs some alone time with you and then when I get home I'll have some alone time with you."

"Hmm," he smiled, nuzzled her neck and gave her a quick kiss, "I think I like the sound of that."

"I thought you might," she hugged him and groaned inwardly as she saw Sam, standing alone, over his shoulder. One more stop on the way to Wyndemere. "I'll see you later."

"Aren't you leaving? Nikolas is gone already."

"Yeah, you know, I have my car. I wanna talk to Sam real quick; she doesn't have anyone in town to lean on."

Sonny looked over his shoulder and shook his head, "Alright, see you later."

Emily watched him leave with a little ball in her throat, she hadn't wanted to lie to him, but she knew it was the only way she was going to be able to get a few things done without him or one of his guards standing over her shoulder. She shook her head and decided to deal with it later as she walked over to Sam McCall. One problem at a time.

"Hey, how are you?"

Sam wrapped her arms around herself and looked up at Emily, "I'm okay. Sick of funerals."

"Yeah."

"What do you need?"

"I wanted to ask you a favor," Emily answered grimly. Apparently she hadn't been a smooth in her introduction as she'd thought. _Hey, how are you, _apparently, didn't scream comfort. Oh well. Pulling the band-aid off all at once had always been the better way to do things anyway.

"To leave town?"

"Wha…No, of course not! Actually I want you to stay. I was gonna ask if you could hold onto the information you have about your biological mother for a few more days. I need to figure some things out."

Sam nodded and said, "Like how to tell a woman who just buried the man she's been dating that her long-lost daughter is in town?"

"How…?"

"The guy with the short blonde hair, Luke, called her Natasha and he called her nephew Nikolas, Prince Cassadine. One-plus-one-equals-two."

"I guess it does. God, I am gonna kill Luke."

Sam laughed and nodded, "Yeah, he seemed…interesting."

"To say the least," Emily rolled her eyes. "So you'll give me a couple of days to figure this out—talk to a few people?"

"What's a few more gonna hurt?"

"That's what I keep telling, or asking, myself," Emily said, thinking of her own family issues.

"Well, I should get going."

"Where?"

"I guess to my motel room."

"Yeah, about that. If you want it I can get you a room at the Port Charles Hotel for free. All the amenities, including free food."

"You don't have to."

"It's no trouble, really. And it's safer than your room on Courtland Street."

Sam thought about Tommy's blood running through her hands and how long it took for the ambulance to get to the scene and agreed, "Alright. Well then I guess I need to pack."

"Hey," Emily said as Sam started to walk away, "Luke probably wouldn't mind another mourner at his Irish wake. Nikolas and Alexis will be there."

"I'll think about it," Sam half smiled as she turned around and walked away.

* * *

**…about twenty minutes later…**

Stefan Cassadine sat quietly at his desk looking over the few papers that were scatter on top of it, he picked up the glass of brown liquid that was resting next to his right hand and ignored the second one. He made no move to get up as the bookcase behind him shuffled open to the tunnel, and without turning around, he said, "You always used to use the door when you were young. My nephew is not here."

"I know," Emily answered as she walked around to the front of the desk.

"Nor is my sister."

"I know that too," she reached over and picked up the second glass of bourbon and downed it, "I need to talk to you."

"I see. What can I do for you Ms. Quartermaine?"

"Tell me about Samantha McCall."

"I…" he trailed off half shocked, half confused.

"Stefan," she said his name like a warning and pronounced each word carefully. "Don't fuck with me right now; I'm not in the mood."

She watched the shock spread across his face and meld into confusion and had to rethink her whole game plan. If he wasn't expecting her because of his connection with Sam McCall, and he was expecting her, the glass of bourbon told her as much, then why was he expecting her? "You didn't know she was in town?"

"I didn't. No."

"Then what was up with you expecting me?"

"We've had security added to the tunnels since you were last here. I saw you coming."

"So instead of wondering why I would use the tunnels to visit Nikolas or calling him or being confused in any way, you poured me a drink. Okay, we'll pretend I buy that, FOR NOW. Tell me about Sam and don't bother lying, I already know enough to be able to separate the bullshit from the truth."

"I see."

"I bet you do."

"Where would you like me to start?"

"Beginning's good."

Stefan laughed coldly, "Neither of us has that much time. We'd have to go back generations in more than one family."

"Alright," Emily said and sat down on the couch. "Start with Alexis getting pregnant and go from there."

"I thought you wanted the whole story."

"Stefan." She said his name in the tone he imagined she'd used with children, it was alarmingly similar to the one he's used with Nikolas on more than one occasion.

"It started with two girls. One not much older than you were when you first arrived in Port Charles. Alexis was thirteen, the other girl was sixteen. The met at a business meeting of sorts. To this day I'm not sure why my father chose to take Alexis with us…"

"What type of business?"

"Business," Stefan answered and got up from his desk to sit in the chair next to the couch so that he could be closer to her as he told her the story, and so, hopefully, he wouldn't be tempted to spend too much time remembering. "That's all we were told."

"Who was the other girl," Emily asked, but she had a sneaking suspicious that not only was she not going to like the answer, but also if she really thought about it she already knew.

"Her name was Sophie."

Emily nodded, "My mother."

"Yes."

"Alexis knew my mother. They were best friends." She said both things more to herself than to Stefan, she'd known almost as soon as she realized that he was waiting for her, that there was going to be more to this story than she expected or wanted to hear.

"No," Stefan answered and pulled her out of her reverie. _What?_ "Alexis was Sophie Nikolai's best friend, Paige Bowen had not come into existence yet."

"You're splitting hairs."

"You'll see that I'm not. Paige was the woman that Sophie made herself into, no more or less strong, just different. Much as Alexis is the person that Natasha was made into. Much as you straddle the line between Emily and Corey."

"Fine. I get it. Tell me about Sophie and Alexis."

"Sophie was the daughter of a very important Russian businessman, Alexander Nikolai…"

"Nikolai," she asked, and realized that he'd said that name before. He'd called her mother Sophie Nikolai. "As in Andrejs Nikolai?"

"Yes, Alexander married Andrejs' mother when he was fifteen years old, your mother was seventeen. She had been Alexis' friend for a year at the time."

"I didn't—so Andrejs was my mother's step-brother?"

"Yes, but he'd known her for years before that. Andrejs was the son of one of Alexander's lieutenants. He promised to take care of the man's family when he was killed and as Alexander had no male heirs, there was only your mother from his first marriage, it was a perfect business deal for him to marry the mans widow."

"A business deal? Not love?"

"No. Your grandfather only loved two women in his life, your mother and your grandmother, that was part of the problem. Andrejs already had strong feelings for your mother and believed that he would rule the Nikolai Empire. The more Alexander focused his attention on Sophie and the more Sophie ignored Andrejs, the more obsessed with her and the power he became."

"What about my father?"

"Lorenzo," Stefan nodded. "He came into your mother's life a year after Alexis and I did. Your mother and Alexis became inseparable that first summer they were together. Alexis was three years younger than your mother, but neither seemed to notice the age difference. The three of us were in Paris, my father, Stavros, and Alexander were meeting together, it was the year Stavros turned seventeen and he could finally sit in on the meetings, and Alexander asked me to chaperone the two girls while they explored Paris."

Emily smiled at the thought and said, "So it was just you and two teenage girls."

"Yes."

"That's…" She outright laughed and took a second to calm herself. "I would pay to see that. I bet you hated it."

"I didn't. No. Before Laura they were the brightest people in my life, I enjoyed their happiness—while it lasted."

"Okay," she sobered quickly. "Continue please…"

"I'd known both Lorenzo and Luis for years from the meetings that I had not been allowed to sit in on, but was expected to attend. That day while I was guiding the girls through Paris, Luis and Lorenzo were also there."

"So," Emily grinned, "you introduced my mother and father."

"I supposed I did."

"Thank you."

"Yes, well, as much as I enjoyed the company of the two girls I was very grateful to have Luis and Lorenzo there and the five of us spent the day together. And then the summer and those following; including winter and spring breaks. Anytime we were not in school of some kind and we were able, we were together."

Emily got up out of her seat and started pacing back and forth in front of the couch.

"Is there a problem," Stefan asked, alarmed, as he watched the girl prowl in front of him.

"No. Yes. I don't know. It's just weird to me that the five of you were such good friends. How did I never know this stuff? Does Nikolas know? What happened? How do five best friends just fall so far apart that their family—their children—don't even know they knew each other? What happened? How could you all have changed so much?"

"We were very young that summer and even in the years to come, but we had to grow up and adults do not have the same freedoms children do."

"I would never not tell my kids about Nikolas or Lucky or Liz. Never."

Stefan slightly bowed his head and ignored the ache in his heart. Had he ever been so young? So angry? "I hope that is true. I hope you are never faced with the choices we were. Hopefully our sacrifices have spared you, at least, that."

"So what happened then?"

"First, Luis turned twenty-one and his education with his father could no longer be put off. He was a man and his father's heir; it was no longer acceptable to spend his free time with young women. But the worst of it came later as your grandfather became ill and my father and brother became more and more obsessed with their power. Alexander became sick after he married Andrejs' mother, your mother was nineteen and engaged to Luis who was twenty. Alexis was sixteen, I was nineteen and Luis was twenty-two. Andrejs was jealous of the relationship between your mother and Lorenzo and worried that if they became married before Alexander died, because he was only seventeen, then Lorenzo would be named Alexander's successor."

"I thought that he became a professor."

"Yes, he did, as he'd always planned to be, but Andrejs did not realize that Lorenzo was no threat to him, especially where the Nikolai Empire was concerned, even though Alexander had begun training him almost as soon as he married his mother. You father and your mother wanted to change the world. They were the happiest of us, but they were also the most naïve and…"

"And," Emily tried to lead him on, to keep him talking.

"Well, they didn't change the world. Your grandfather died a month after the engagement was announced and it fell to Andrejs to give his blessing for the union. As we all expected, he refused and, as we all expected, your parents married anyway. Sophie went against the head of her family and the Alcazar family ignored the sovereignty of another family by accepting the union. Alexis and I were told we were no longer allowed to see or speak with Lorenzo, Sophie, or Luis again."

"And you agreed," Emily asked, outraged.

"I had already begun to grow apart from the group as I had to spend more time examining the treacherous landscape of my own family. Even with that, however, I still saw Luis at business meetings because no one could afford to completely shun the Alcazar family, their enterprises were too lucrative."

"And Alexis? She was sixteen, maybe seventeen; I don't see her turning her back on her best friend."

"Or her lover."

"Her…Luis?"

"Yes, I am not sure when it happened because Alexis hid it very well, but at some point in those years we spent together she and Lorenzo became closer than any of us realized. I'm sure she hid it for many reason, but the most important were because she knew that my mother would have done anything in her power to steal her happiness and because she knew, after the wedding, that seeing any Alcazar, or Sophie, for her, was forbidden. She only came to me because she had no other choice."

"She was pregnant," Emily guessed. "And at seventeen she had no way to protect her child from Helena, or any of the other psychos in your family."

"Yes."

"But why didn't she run away, like my mother did? Why wouldn't Luis help her?"

"He may have, but my father found out first. He ordered her to give the child up for adoption and, I believe, she was so shocked that he did not strike her or force her to get rid of it that she blindly agreed."

"And Luis?"

"My father told him Alexis miscarried and he was no longer allowed to see her."

"God," Emily scrubbed her hands over her face as her heart sank. Out of all the annoying and controlling things the Quartermaine's had done to her, she knew, that they would never have forced her to give up her child and tell the father it died. At least she hoped they wouldn't. "Did he ever find out the truth?"

"Alexis never spoke of it to me. He believed my father lied and she aborted the child—I do not know if she told him the truth before he died."

"You mean before he was murdered, here, in Port Charles, the same town as your sister who he'd spent years hating because he believed she killed his child?"

"Yes," Stefan answered, ignoring the implications that either he or Alexis had killed Luis Alcazar.

"Your niece's name is Samantha McCall."

"Yes, I know. She was named after your mother."

"She…huh?"

"After your mother married Lorenzo, she and Alexis made up code names so that they could send letters to each other and communicate. Your mother chose the name Sam or Samantha and Alexis chose the name…"

"Corey. Corinne."

"Yes."

"Aunt Corey," Emily smiled. "My mom never had pictures of her or anything, just memories and vague locations of places she might be…" Emily trailed off and, startled, looked up at Stefan. "Did you know about me? That I was her daughter, that I was alive?"

"I suspected. You look very much like her, a fact my sister seems to have ignored or dismissed as impossible."

"Because she believes I died in my mother's stomach before I was ever even born. That's kind of a hard thing for a person to wrap their head around."

"Yes."

"But you didn't think I was dead?"

"As I said, Luis became very angry after he was forced away from Alexis and he blamed some of that on Sophie for marrying into his family and making it impossible for him to see Alexis. The idea of her and your father getting the child he never would may have actually made him hate your mother, just the thought of it angered him, actually having to see it happen may have pushed him over the edge."

"But that's not all. I know how she escaped Luis, Andrejs helped her, but how did she escape Andrejs?"

"Your mother was very smart."

"And, as I remember, very broke without his allowances. You helped her," she held her breath and figured if she was going to ask, now was the best time. "Do you know how Daniel Bowen died?"

"No. She only came to me for money, nothing else. I never met Daniel Bowen and the day she came to speak with me not even you were with her."

"And you never told your sister that her best friend was alive," she asked, suspiciously.

"She already had a child she was not permitted to be with. I wouldn't add to that pain."

"Okay." She knew there were probably more questions that she should ask him, but she also knew that she was only going to be able to hold Sonny off for so long and if, later, he spoke with Alexis or Nikolas then she'd need to make her time alone as short as possible. She started to walk out the door without saying anything and, belatedly, turned back around and asked, "Do you know if Faison every worked for my mother's father?"

"No," Stefan answered and he was shocked that she would even ask. "I do not."

"Do you know how long he was toying with whatever he used to fuck with Lucky's head?"

"I know he had been experimenting with altering memories for years."

"Okay," Emily said, turned around and left.

"Interesting," Stefan walked over to his desk and pressed a button to activate the intercom system that Nikolas had suggested be installed the year before. "Mrs. Lansbury."

"Yes, sir."

"Have my nephew come to see me as soon as he gets home."

"Yes sir, should I have tea ready?"

"No," Stefan answered and released the button. "He'll need more than that."

* * *

Alexis Davis stepped carefully out of her nephew's car and into the parking lot of Luke Spencer's blues club, before she realized something was wrong. Of course it wasn't wrong in the sense that the world was coming to an end, which too often seemed to be a problem in her life, but things were nonetheless not quite right.

"Go on in," she said, turning to Nikolas. "I'll be in soon."

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I just need to call a client."

"Alright," he figured there was no client, no call that needed to be made, but she had just lost someone who was very close to her and she was deserving of a little alone time if she wanted it.

"What are you doing here?" She asked the question to what should have been an empty parking lot since Nikolas had already made his way into the club, but she knew better. He was there.

"Waiting for you," Lorenzo Alcazar answered as he stepped out of the shadows and into the streetlight.

Alexis nodded and turned in his direction, "And what were you doing at the funeral today?"

"Watching?"

"Watching what?"

"A great many things."

"I'm not in the mood Enzo, tell me."

"Enzo," he half grimaced, half smiled. "Do you know how long it has been since you called me that?"

"I…"

"It was after her funeral," he continued, they both knew who the _her_ he was referring to was. Sophie. "I told my mother I didn't want to speak with or see anyone. She said nothing, only handed me the phone and softly closed the door behind her as she left. When I heard you voice on the other end I thought I'd die…"

"I remember."

"You didn't call after Luis was killed."

"No," she said coldly as her features hardened.

"I was watching my daughter today, surrounded by her friends and family as she buried and grieved for someone she loved. I also watched you speak with her after the funeral."

"Your daughter?" She leaned back on the car, broke down on the car really. "You mean…Emily? I don't understand."

He blew out a relieved breath and stood next to her companionably, "I thought maybe you knew." _Stefan._

"No. How could I? She would have been born after Sophie's death…I've been to her birthday parties…I don't…"

"How did you know," he asked, interrupting her.

"Know what?"

"That she is Sophie's daughter. If you believed she was born after Sophie's death then why would assume she's Sophie's daughter? You know I wasn't exactly celibate after Sophie's—after…"

"I don't…I guess I assumed. I knew you were trying to have another child after the miscarriage the year before."

"No. You just realized what I realized not too long ago."

"She looks like her. God, she looks so much like her mother. Why did I never see it? Do you know what happened? How this can be?"

"Yes."

"How?" He made no move to answer and she suddenly became annoyed. "What? Tell me!"

"I will. I am. There's just—there's a lot to it and you'll have to deal with it. I tried to make it so you found some of this out sooner, but Thomas…"

"Thomas?" She interrupted him and felt her whole world fall out from under her. He'd been lying to her, about this, about her best friend, about Emily. How? Why? "You knew Tommy?"

"We've been in contact."

"How much contact?"

"A few meetings."

"A few…? Before he was murdered Emily called me looking for him one day, I told her he was helping me with something and couldn't answer his phone, but he wasn't. He'd told me that he was with her. Was this one of those meetings?"

"Probably the last," he answered matter-of-factly. "We were helping each other."

"Each other. What could you have had that he needed? You obviously needed him for information on Emily. And, by the way, if I were you I'd never tell her you two spoke about her without her knowledge. It would seriously piss her off."

"He needed me for two things. The first was information on Simon Morris…"

"The man who killed his daughter," she asked, confused. "How could you help?"

"You don't remember? He was Andrejs' friend. The one..."

"The one whose father did work for the Russian families; I'd forgotten about him."

"Well Andrejs hasn't. Simon's been doing his dirty work for years."

"My God," she shook her head. "What a small world."

"Not so small."

"What does that mean?"

"I told you I was helping him with two things. He also needed to find the birth parents of the girl who survived one of Simon's attacks. Her sister was killed."

"Yes," Alexis nodded her head, but there was a sinking feeling in her stomach. "I know, he told me about her. Sam." _Samantha,_ she thought and then shoved the name out of her mind. It couldn't be. She couldn't be.

"Yes, well he told me about her too. He needed help finding her biological parents and I told him I would do what I could. I tracked back her birth certificate and still could not find what I needed, until I finally realized what I was dealing with," he said giving her a look of concern before he continued on. "Your family always did have an interesting way of doing things. Did he think that using the name Natasha on the papers would make Helena less likely to find out? And you. Did you really have to insist she be called Sam? Was that wise?"

"Oh God. Oh my God."

He hadn't wanted to break it to her that way, so coldly, but if he knew Alexis Davis then the last thing she would have wanted was him beating around the bush and forcing her to play, _figure-it-out_. He reached out his arms before he even finished and held onto her as she dropped to the ground. He lightly held his arms around her and slid down so that he was sitting next to her on the ground, his arms wrapped around her.

As he held her there was only one word, one question that he could articulate, "Why?" _Why what_, he wondered. What was it he wanted to know?

"I was so young Enzo," she answered as she leaned back into him. "I tried to tell Luis the truth later, but he just wouldn't hear me and then when he might have, when the pain wasn't so raw, I couldn't risk it. He would have insisted on finding her. I couldn't let that happen."

"You let him believe his child was dead, that you had…"

"Don't," she interrupted, turning in his arms to stare into his eyes. "Don't you put that on me! He should have known I would never kill my child. He should have known that."

"He was hurt."

"We all were." She said slowly. "Can you tell me…Do you know…"

"You've met her already. If you think about it you'll know it. I saw you speak with her before the funeral."

"Of course, Sam. She's beautiful. Tiny. Why's she so small?"

"Recessive gene," he answered, smiling.

"Do you know anything else?"

"I have a file."

"Have you read it?" He nodded and she shook her head. "Okay then, tell me."

"It's not all good…what little there is."

"Tell me."

"Alright. Her family moved around a lot. They were never in one place more than a year, as far as I could figure. Apparently the family, especially the father, was con artists. There wasn't too much information about him; he probably kept under the radar. His name was Cody McCall, there were only a few arrest on him—fraud, theft, impersonating a police officer—nothing stuck. No jail time. Apparently when she was seventeen she entered the family business at least that was when she was arrested for the first time. They didn't really become a team until after the sister's murder."

"How did it happen?"

"Simon caught them when they were alone and kidnapped them. He killed the sister, raped her. Apparently he split his focus just long enough for Samantha to escape. At the time they thought it was because of a con gone wrong, but…"

"But?"

"Thomas and I talked; it seems neither of us believes in coincidences. Simon's father didn't just work for the mob; he also worked for the Cassadine's a few times."

"Helena. I'm going to kill her."

"No you aren't. Let me get some more information, it could have just as easily come as a shot from Andrejs' family to my family. She really is the first born of the first born for us and my father isn't as strict about his heirs being male."

"Alright," she nodded. "I'll wait. But I'm still going to talk to Stefan and Nikolas about this."

"I would expect no less."

"Can you believe this?" Alexis asked as she stood up. "Both of our daughters are here, now. I don't know if we should be happy or terrified."

"I believe I've settle on an unhealthy mixture of both. I keep thinking about all that Sophie must have gone through to keep our little girl out of this life and look where she ended up, and now Samantha too. What was the point?"

"They're alive, sometimes that's all you get to ask for. And Emily's life hasn't been horrible, the Quartermaines love her. Jason would kill for her and she's got great friends. I just hope I can make this all up to my daughter."

"You will. We will. Hell, she'll practically be the princess of two families. Between your brother and my father she'll be showered with plans for her future and more importantly she'll be loved. No matter how hard or dangerous life gets she's going to have people to turn to now. They both will."

"Yeah," she leaned her head on his shoulder and they made their way towards Luke's. There was no better time to introduce The Spencer's and the Cassadine's to him than now…especially considering how hard things were about to get.

* * *

Emily walked into the darkened penthouse and took a calming breath. Sonny was, apparently, upstairs with Bella. That, at least, was good. She needed to think before talking to him, before telling him about her day. She grimaced to herself and reached for the light switch next to the door.

"Where the hell have you been," Sonny asked from his seat on the couch, making her jump as she flipped the light on.

* * *

Authors Notes:

First, I am working on a timeline for this story right now. I realized that things have gotten a little more complicated and I wanted everyone to have a good idea of when this story is taking place, when characters were born, and when characters met, etc. So I am working on that now and I will have it out either right before or right after I get the next chapter out.

Second, I got like four reviews last time and I am not trying to force you guys to write one or anything, believe me I know life can get hectic and some times there just isn't time to get it done. I also know that there has been A LOT of time in between chapters and some readers may have stopped searching for this story, that's fine too. But I will as that if you have time would you please just give me a quick little, "I'm still reading" or something, and if you have more time a full on review would be great. Again, I'm not trying to force you and I'll continue trying to get the chapters out sooner either way, but reviews love and we all need a little love sometimes. Thanks.


	21. Chapter TwentyOne and Timeline

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

"Where the hell have you been?"

"God," Emily blew out a breath and reached out to steady herself on the wall next to her. "You scared me."

"Where were you?"

"I told you I—"

"Don't lie to me," Sonny whispered harshly, trying not to yell because he didn't want to wake up Bella and have her hear them fighting. He'd been woken up to loud voices too many times in his childhood and the fact that he remembered even his mother and Mike yelling told him that violence didn't need to follow for it to scar a child for life.

"I'm trying to tell you if you'd calm down. I was on my way to Luke's, but…"

Sonny walked across the room quickly and grabbed her shoulders before saying, "I said, _don't fucking lie to me_."

"And I said," she pulled back and shoved at him. "Calm down. And don't put your fucking hands on me, I don't like it."

"Really," Sonny stalked away, trying to regain control of his emotions before touching her again, "that's not what you said last night or this morning."

"Fuck you!"

He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her around to face him, as she started to walk past him and up the stairs, "You did that too, now tell me where you were and don't you dare lie to me again."

"Fine," she stepped closer to him, her nose almost touching his, "I'll tell you. I was at Wyndemere. I needed to talk with Stefan."

"About what?"

Her nerves were still on edge from all she'd learned and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to get it all out, not when she was still processing it all herself, but she figured she had to try. She took a deep breath and said, "If you really wanted to know I would have told you. Jesus, it wasn't like I was out screwing some guy or something, I was talking to Stefan Cassadine."

Sonny pulled away, and moved to sit on the couch, after he realized he was holding her arm tight enough to bruise. For a second he thought she was actually going to tell him the truth, but just as quickly she reverted back to yelling at him for something he had very little control over. Where the hell was he supposed to think she was?

"Shit," Emily rubbed her right hand down her face and groaned at the back of his head. "Is that what you thought? That I left the funeral of a good friend and lied to you for a quick fuck?"

"It's been a few hours, not exactly quick." He knew he shouldn't have said it, he didn't really believe it. But after Lucky called him earlier and asked where she was he'd spent every second worrying and wondering.

"Screw you. If I wanted to hop into bed with another guy I wouldn't lie about it."

"I know that!" He stood up and turned to her. "The question is what would you lie about?"

"How about things that aren't my secrets to tell or maybe they are now…I don't know…" she rubbed her forehead again and walked around to the front of the couch. When she was standing in front of him she took his hands and sat down on the coffee table in front of him, relieved when he follow suit and sat back down on the couch.

His anger turned almost automatically back to worry as she rubbed her forehead. He put his hand on her knee and massaged her thigh as she let her hair fall over her face and cover her eyes.

"I was gonna tell you," she said as she pushed her hair back and stared into his eyes. "I swear."

"Well, tell me now." He kept his right hand on her thigh and used his left to help her push her hair back from her face.

"You know Sam McCall," he nodded and she shook her head. "Obviously you know her. Well…she's Alexis' daughter with Luis Alcazar. I guess that would make her my cousin." She laughed coldly and proceeded to tell him the rest of what she'd learned from Stefan. He didn't interrupt once or ask her to clarify anything, which she was thankful for, he just sat back and listened.

"Jesus," Sonny groaned when she finished.

"Jesus is right."

"C'mere." He locked his hands in her hair and kissed her on the forehead. "Are you okay?"

She leaned her head against his, happy for the first time that night to really be able to rest her brain and her heart. "I don't know. I can't figure all of this out. I mean I've been thinking about it and I figure, yeah, Luis saw it as my mother's fault that he couldn't be with Alexis or his child, but why didn't my mother tell Lorenzo? Why did she let it get so far?"

"Maybe she was scared."

"Of what?"

"What are you scared of?"

"Finding out things I don't want to know," she answered without thinking.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. That just came out," she said as she looked up into his deep, brown eyes. "I shouldn't have lied to you, but I knew if I told you then you'd want to go with me and I couldn't let you."

"Why?"

"I asked how Daniel died," she answered and paused long enough to see the question in his eyes. "I didn't ask if he knew why my mom lied about my age."

"Do you think those two things are directly connected?"

"Maybe," she shrugged. "I think my mother took away a year of my life and I don't know why. I, uh, I ask Stefan how long Faison had been working on a way to screw with people's memories and emotions before Lucky. He said a while."

"You think she knew him?"

"Maybe, or maybe she knew someone who knew him or maybe Andrejs did. I just don't know. But why would she take a whole year? What would make you steal a year of your child's life? Why not a week, a month, two months, six months? What happened in that year?"

"Maybe she needed time. Maybe she needed you to feel like you hadn't missed even a day."

"Wouldn't I have grown at that age? Changed?"

"If they could mess with your memories then they could change your perception of yourself…that's not so big."

"But that's what scares me."

"They couldn't change who you are—in your heart."

"But could they suppress it? Could they make a bad person believe they were good until they needed them to be bad? I see the way you all look at me sometimes, like I'm not the girl you knew before. Well maybe this is who I really always was."

"Would that be bad?"

She smiled, "You tell me."

Sonny grinned as she leaned back into the couch and crooked a finger at her.

She smiled as she moved from the coffee table, without ever completely standing, to straddle his lap, "Hello Mr. Corinthos."

"Hello Miss Quartermaine." He began unbuttoning her shirt as she smiled at her.

"Or is that Miss Wilson," she kissed him softly on the lips and shook her head, surprised. Had they really just gone from fighting, to her bearing her soul, to getting ready to make out—and probably a little more—on his couch? Interesting.

"Or Alcazar," he parted her unbuttoned shirt.

"Or, God help us all, Nikolai." She leaned back and smiled at him. "Or…"

"Or?"

"Nevermind," she shook her head.

"Or Corinthos?"

"Grandfather would love that."

"Which one," Sonny laughed as he started to reach around and unhook the clasp on her bra. He had the first one unsnapped when he heard the knock on the front door.

"Mr. Corinthos," Max started from the other side of the door as both Emily and Sonny groaned.

"What?"

"Mr. Alcazar is here and Lucky is next door getting Mr. Morgan—they say it's important."

Sonny looked down at Emily, who was still in his arms, and noticed the skin on her neck and chest suddenly getting very red, "You're blushing."

She pushed up off of him and buttoned her shirt back up, "I was just about to have sex with you, with my biological father standing outside the door."

"We could tell him to go away."

"Sonny!"

He laughed as he stood up, wrapped his arms around her waist, and moved her hair to the side so he could kiss her neck.

"Quit it," she nearly moaned as she tried to shove away from him. "Jason will be here too."

Sonny just grinned and asked, "Are you ready for this?"

She ignored the emotion shimmering in his eyes and said, "I guess I have to be."

"Let him in," Sonny yelled through the door after he nodded at her determination.

Lorenzo Alcazar walked through the door and Max closed it carefully behind him.

"Mr. Corinthos. Miss Quartermaine."

"Mr. Alcazar," Sonny stepped forward, taking the lead. "What can we do for you?"

"I don't know," Lorenzo answered, ignoring his daughters messed up hair and flushed skin. Apparently he'd interrupted…Good. "Mr. Spencer told me I needed to come with him. I happened to be outside of his father's club when he was leaving to come over here."

"They were having a private party," Emily said defensively. The last thing Alexis needed was an Alcazar making her life harder after she'd buried Tommy.

"Yes, I know." He also knew that she'd spoken with Stefan and had been given the quick and ugly version of what had gone on between the group of friends. "I was speaking with Alexis Davis."

"Oh," Emily stepped back as she realized that he knew exactly what was going on. If he'd been speaking to Alexis then there was no way he hadn't figured out that she would have gone to Stefan. Damn.

"Yes. Oh."

"Do you know what Lucky wanted," Sonny asked stepping in front of Emily and giving her time to realize that she wasn't going to be able to hold off her little family reunion anymore. Lorenzo Alcazar not only knew that he was her father, but he knew that she knew.

"I believe he has information on Joseph Sorel."

When Lucky and Jason came through the penthouse door they were met by Sonny, Emily, and Alcazar all standing quietly. Emily was starring, intently, at the door waiting for Jason and Lucky to arrive, Alcazar was staring at Emily trying to figure out her relationship with Sonny, and Sonny was staring at Alcazar trying to decide if he trusted him with Emily or not.

"What's up," Emily asked Lucky, jumping at the chance to break the silence.

Lucky looked to Jason to get his nod of approval to talk and then told them, "I got a call from one of my guys inside Sorel's organization, and they say he's terrified. Apparently he thinks we're gonna go after him for Tommy's murder. He's telling anyone who will listen that it wasn't his fault and he was betrayed by Nikolai."

"Does he know why Tommy was killed," Emily asked.

"Not that he's said out loud, but my guy says he thinks so."

"Do we know where Sorel is now?" Emily grabbed her jacket and began walked towards the door.

"At home."

"Alone?"

"With guards, no family."

"We need to get over there," Emily turned to Sonny before starting out the door. She'd forgotten for a second that he was the one in charge, not her.

Sonny looked over at Jason, gave him a nod, and said, "Milo will stay at your place with the kids and the girls, Max and Johnny are with us…"

"Johnny, Max, and the four of us are enough for now," Emily interrupted and pressed forward before anyone could argue. "If he's this worried then his guards know we're coming, they won't be too loyal since he just gave his territory to the guy who betrayed him. Anyway, Sorel knows we're gonna get to him anyway—he'll want to plead his case in person."

"She's right," Jason told Sonny. "He's got ten guards, seven of them have made contact with us since he gave his territory to Nikolai, and the other three can be handled if they need to be."

"Alright," Sonny looked between them. "Max will drive Emily and me, you two are with Johnny, and I want you there ahead of us to handle any guards that need it and you…"

"I came here with Mr. Spencer," Lorenzo said as Sonny turned to him. He wasn't about to give away too much information, but he was taking part in this conversation with Sorel, whether Sonny Corinthos wanted him to or not.

"Fine, you're with me and Emily," Sonny turned to Jason and said, "Go. We'll be behind you."

After Jason and Lucky left the penthouse there was once again silence among the occupants, as a matter of fact no one had spoken from the time they were alone until now, when they were in the backseat of Sonny's limo heading towards Joseph Sorel's home.

Emily looked between Sonny and Lorenzo; she was sitting to the right of Sonny and across from Lorenzo and decided she couldn't take the silence anymore. She looked at her biological father and said, "What were you talking to Alexis about?"

"Her daughter, my niece."

"Oh, I didn't know you…" she trailed off, not sure what to say. She hadn't considered that Sam was his niece; she hadn't really considered much of anything since she's spoken with Stefan.

"I gave Thomas Marks the information that he had concerning her biological parents."

"He told me he didn't know who gave it to him."

"I asked him to say that."

"Why?" She spit the word out almost like a curse and held his gaze for a few seconds. Tommy was supposed to be one of the few people who always told her the truth; she was realizing that the more information she found out about her family, the more the people she had come to trust were becoming less and less trustworthy.

"For many reasons: my parents do not know about her, I was still coming to terms with her existence, and I like my privacy."

"Well don't we all," Emily commented, annoyed.

"He tried to allow you to keep yours."

"I see that he did."

Sonny had been quiet up to that point, realizing that the two of them needed to work out their issues, but the more angry Emily became the more worried he was that she wasn't going to be able to pull in her emotions before they reached Sorel's home. "Emily…"

"Let me ask you something Mr. Alcazar," Emily started, ignoring the warning in Sonny's voice. "Why would a woman who is supposedly happily married, who supposedly feels safe and loved and protected, fake her own death and the death of her child and put her trust in a man she hates and fears?"

"I don't know," Lorenzo answered, willing to give her a little leeway. She had more than enough reason to hate him and anyone involved in the lies that had been told to her for years.

"Could it be because her husband couldn't really protect her at all? Could it be that he wasn't as strong as he led her to believe he was?"

"No." The annoyance that he'd been keeping in check was threatening to make itself known as her comments became more and more venomous.

"Then why," she asked, unsure of where her anger was coming from or even if it was directed at the right person.

"Maybe because she valued family above all and she didn't want her husband to lose his brother; maybe because she was desperate to protect her child, especially since she'd already had a miscarriage once; or maybe because she was too kind and too sweet and blamed herself for tragedy's that weren't her fault. You tell me something, Miss Quartermaine, why does a woman judge a man she doesn't know?"

"Maybe because she feels she should know him. Maybe because she's angry. Or maybe, just maybe, because she just doesn't know what else to do anymore."

Lorenzo nodded and decided to give her an inch, even if it meant she would take a mile, "I believe your mother made the decisions she made to protect the lives of those she loved."

Emily sat silently for a second, allowing that answer to root around in her heard before she looked up at him and said, "She miscarried?"

"Yes, a boy, before you were born."

_Another big brother, _Emily thought and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I never knew."

"She would have been happy that you have older brothers."

"I know, she was."

They spent the rest of the drive in silence with Lorenzo staring at Emily once again and Emily once again looking anywhere and everywhere but at him. She stared out the window and held onto Sonny's hand as though it was the only thing keeping her alive. They arrived at the gates of the Sorel estate and were waived in by Johnny and Max who each had one of Sorel's dead guards at their feet.

"Guess someone put up a fight," Emily murmured and earned herself a concerned look from Alcazar.

"Is he in there?" Sonny asked Jason as he walked around the car and opened the door for Emily.

"Lucky's with him," Jason answered nodding.

"Good," Emily marched ahead of the three men and into the house. The first thing she saw was Joseph Sorel tied to a chair in the foyer with Lucky sitting next to him tapping a gun on his knee. She looked around slowly and admired the size of the house. The opening to her right was, what she assumed, the family room and to the left was the dinning room with its crystal chandelier hanging over a glass table. There were matching stair cases on either side of the foyer that lead to the second floor and met in the middle of the house. The opening straight in front of her—behind where Joseph Sorel was tied to his chair—led to the back of the house where she assumed the kitchen and downstairs bathroom were. Everything was decorated in tacky gold's and creams that screamed, new money and no taste. She figured Sorel's wife had chosen the décor. "Nice place," she said, smiling sarcastically.

"I've very glad you approve," Sorel responded as he pulled against his bindings.

She shot him a look, shook her head, and said, "Let's examine the situation here. I have four men with me in the house and two outside, all of yours are either dead or they have betrayed you and left you to us. I am free to move around, you are tied to a chair. I am pissed off; you are tied to a chair. I could probably find more than enough instruments in this house to torture you with and you are tied to a chair. Oh," she turned around and walked over to the picture of his wife, sitting in the same chair he was now in, hanging on the wall, "and did I mention you are tied to a fucking chair! So you may not want to get an attitude with me."

"Are the four of you just gonna stand there and let this woman handle your business," Sorel asked as he diverted his attention from the very pissed of woman in front of him.

"Scared?" Lucky smiled as he leaned over and nudged Sorel. "I would be too, I've seen her pissed off and it ain't pretty. At all."

Sonny just looked at the three of them before stepping further in to the foyer and asking, "Why did you kill Thomas Marks?"

Emily whipped her head around and shot him an annoyed look, but Sonny just shook his head and waited for the answer.

"I didn't, I swear. I was with my wife when he was murdered. We were at her family's house."

Sonny nodded, not at all surprised. "Not great as alibis go, but we'll try this another way. Why did you have him killed?"

"I didn't."

"Then you've lost control of your territory?"

"You know it's no longer mine."

"So you're saying that Nikolai had him killed?"

"No. Yes. I don't know."

"You don't seem to know much of anything, maybe Jason can help you remember."

Jason made a move towards Sorel's chair and was rewarded with an outburst from the man.

"No, no, no," Sorel chanted and then looked over at Lorenzo. "You're a civilized man, are you going to let them torture me?"

Lorenzo made no move to answer, only stared across the room at the other man waiting for him to continue on with his pleading.

"Wait, I can help you," Sorel's eyes brightened as he looked towards Lorenzo. "I've heard Nikolai say things. He told me you have a daughter, if you stop them I may be able to get him to tell me where she is."

Emily smiled over at Sonny and nodded her head at the opening behind Sorel, none of the men commented as she walked around him and out of the foyer to wander around the house.

Lorenzo shook his head and pretended to be worried as he watched her leave, "What has he said about her? Where is she?"

Sorel sat up as far as he could in the chair and shot Sonny a victorious look believing that he'd finally found an ally in the room, "I can find out, you just have to protect me from them."

"He's lying," Sonny said, realizing that they needed to know exactly what Sorel know about Emily and everyone else.

"No, I'm not. I know she's somewhere in Port Charles and that her mother faked their deaths."

"Does he have her," Lorenzo asked.

"He didn't the last time we talked, but he could by now. If he does, I know where."

"Where?"

"Untie me."

"No," Jason said coldly and took another step towards the man. "Tell him where."

"Fine, fine," Sorel nodded. "He has a place near the edge of town, but the basement has tunnels in case he needs to escape, there are also hidden rooms. She'll be there."

"No," Emily said as she walked out of the kitchen and placed a couple of small steak and peeling knives on the marble table in front of him. "I'm here. Nice kitchen."

"But, but I just told you…"

"Nothing," she interrupted. "I'm his daughter and I'm right here. Tell me about Tommy."

Lorenzo didn't have time to be surprised that she's just brought knives out of the kitchen to torture a man, not when she's just called herself his daughter. He wasn't sure who it said more about that the first swell of fatherly prided he'd felt for his daughter came when she was holding a steak knife to a trembling mans neck.

"I don't…" Sorel tried to lean back away from the knife, but only succeeded in tipping the chair and having to pull himself that much closer to it so that he could rebalance.

"There was a war in Algeria," Emily said conversationally as she pulled the knife away and sat it on the table before she moved to stand directly in front of him. "It happened in the sixties, it was essentially France's version of Vietnam. Well, after they left Vietnam, but that's not the point. The point is that there was something very important about this war. Do you know what it was?" She hopped up onto the table as he shook his head. She nodded in response, not surprised. "Yeah, I figured. Well, I'll tell you. It was torture. You see it was during this war that they found out that prisoners would tell them just about anything to make the pain of torture stop. Truth. Lies. It didn't matter, anything to make the pain go away.

"They were doing it wrong," she kicked her feet out and lightly touched his knees. "The soldiers. You see they found out that in most situations the threat of torture is enough to get people to talk, you just have to give it time, let them think of the most horrible things that you could do to them. But," she drawled the word out and reached behind her to pick of one of the knives, "any good mobster knows that a threat is worthless without follow through. So what were they to do? Torture doesn't work, threats without torture are useless. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. No way out, right? Wrong. You see about a decade later a few nice, older Sicilian gentlemen let the world in on their secret. You just have to torture one. You do things so heinous, so terrible, to just one person that no one else will even risk telling you a lie. What do you think about that?"

"You need t know that what I am saying is the truth, you can't torture me."

"That's a good point," she nodded her head in his general direction. "Unless I've already decided you don't know anything and I am just doing this so the next guy tells the truth. So the question becomes: Who's smarter? Me or you. I say me, Lucky," she turned to her friend, "what do you think?"

"I don't know," Lucky drawled, "he is tied up. But maybe you shouldn't hurt him; he may be able to help us."

"What is this," Sorel looked between them. "Good cop, bad goop with little kids?"

Lucky leaned over to stare him in the face and said, his voice a mixture of coldness and congeniality, "What makes you think I'm the good cop?"

"Better yet," Emily smiled and twisted the knife in her hand. "What makes you think I'm the bad one?" She hopped off the table, walked over to Jason, handed him the knife and whispered in his ear without ever looking at Sorel again.

Jason took the knife out of her hand and walked over to Sorel. He stopped and stood in front of the man, looking down at him with cold eyes before pulling up his leg and kicking Sorel's left hand with the tip of his steel toed boot.

Sorel yelled out in pain as blood swelled up on his knuckles and dripped down his fingers and onto the floor. Emily had time to think that the drip was an interesting opposition to Sorel's high pitched screams before he calmed himself and yelled, "You fucking son of a bitch!"

"Hey," Emily smiled as she looked over at him, "that's my mother and my brother you're talking about, you better watch it."

"Fucking bitch," Sorel gritted out before Jason, without warning, reach over and bent back the middle finger on the hand that was already bleeding until it snapped.

"Don't talk to her that way," he was so calm when he said it that it would have been easy for anyone to believe that he hadn't actually done any harm—easy to believe if Sorel wasn't, once again, screaming out in pain, that is.

"Okay, enough," Sonny stepped in front of Emily realizing that if Sorel wasn't going to talk to her before he certainly wouldn't now. "Tell us about Thomas Marks."

"I don't know why Andrejs had him killed," Sorel said as the breath heaved from his body and tears streamed down his face.

"But you know it was him," Sonny asked.

"Yes. I heard him talk about it with that psycho Simon, but it sounded like a favor for someone else."

"Who? Why?"

"I don't know, they said he was getting too close to the truth too soon. I don't think it had anything to do with either of the girls they talked about."

"Either?"

"Yeah, he said this Thomas guy had information on you," he nodded to Emily, finally realizing she was Alcazar's daughter, "and your cousin. Luis Alcazar's daughter."

Emily turned to Lorenzo and simply said, "Sam."

"Whatever," Sorel continued, "he wasn't worried about that. It was the other thing."

"What other thing?"

"I don't know."

Sonny nodded to Lucky and said, "Put a gag on him."

As Sonny turned around to talk with Emily the door to Sorel's home flew open and Max walked in, out of breath and worried, "Sir, we have a problem."

Everyone turned to look at the woman who walked in after him. Emily stared at her long, black hair and petite stature for a second before she realized who she was staring at, "Hello Mrs. Sorel."

"Oh God," the woman stepped back and cowered against the door, "please don't hurt me."

"We'll handle this," Sonny told Max, an annoyed look crossing his face. "Go back outside."

The woman watched Max walk out the door like he was the last sip of water there was and she was in the middle of the desert, like he was her last hope.

"Are you going to kill me? Dios mío. Please. I have children; I won't speak of what I've seen here."

Emily stepped a little closer to the woman and noticed the shadow peeking out from under her big sunglasses, "Mrs. Sorel, could you please take your glasses off?"

Pilar Sorel nodded as she reached up and removed the glasses from her face.

Emily groaned inwardly as she saw the bruise covering the woman's left eye and part of her cheek, "We won't hurt you. You begged for your life for the sake of your children. Why not his?" She asked pointing toward Sorel.

She looked at her husband and then back to Emily before answering, "My boys need a mother."

"Not a father?"

The woman looked around quietly, confused as the how relevant the question was and what she needed to say. Before she could speak again Emily took another step forward and reached out the touch the bruise on her cheek, all of the men, with the exception of Sorel who was groaning and struggling in his seat, stood completely quiet.

"Did he do that to you?"

"I, he, no—"

"You don't have to lie; he's tied to a chair."

"He may get united."

"Not with us here."

"You will leave."

"Yes, and we were going to handle him before we left, but I'm not sure we can since you have seen us. Maybe, maybe there is someplace else you could be and if you were there then we never would have seen you and you never would have seen us."

Joseph Sorel's wife turned to watch him struggling in the chair, staring up at her with fear in his eyes, and then she touched her own finger to the bruise under her eye before saying, "Yes, I could be at my mother's."

"And she will remember you being there? You can tell her you will be safe, no one will come after you ever again, I promise."

"You are sure," the woman asked as she inched carefully toward the door.

Emily took another step forward and looked the woman in the eye, "You have my word."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you." Emily barely got the words out before Pilar Sorel was opening the door to her home and leaving, never turning back to look at her husband struggling and groaning in the chair he was tied to.

"Can we trust her not to call anyone," Jason asked.

"She never asked if he was okay, never cared. That, along with the bruise…yeah we can trust her. Have someone follow her for a few days then leave her alone," Emily turned to Sonny. "Okay with you?"

"Fine."

"Good, so what are we gonna do with him," she asked, speaking just low enough that their captive couldn't hear her.

"We have to kill him now," Jason answered. "We can't risk him coming after us or his wife."

"Yeah, but how do we do it?"

"We don't," Jason said pointedly. "Lucky and I will handle it."

"But…"

"He's right," Sonny interrupted before she could work herself up to yelling and screaming and not hearing a word they said. "It's not your problem. We all trust you here, but when all this is done if you want to choose another path we're not messing that up for you now."

"But I've already…"

"What you've done in the past as Corey doesn't matter. Here you are Emily and right here, right now, we aren't gonna let you kill a man in cold blood. No arguments."

"Okay," she nodded, realizing that whether what he said was true or not did matter, they needed to believe it and she needed to let them.

"Good," Sonny turned to Lorenzo and said, "You have to go with her, the Commission can't know you were here. Jason, walk them out and let them take the car you came in. Max and Johnny will stay here."

Emily stared at him without speaking and tried her best to ignore the clinching of her stomach at how sexy he was when he was taking command, instead of standing there and giving herself away she walked out with Lorenzo and Jason and as they were walking toward the car stopped and said to her father, "You go ahead, I need to talk with Jason really quick."

"Are you okay," Jason asked as Lorenzo nodded and walked away.

"Yeah. Great. Fine. What do I say to him," she asked pointing to Lorenzo as he climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Don't say anything."

"I'm not you," Emily laughed, "I can't sit in a car and not talk to someone."

"Try." He shrugged.

She shoved him back a step and groaned, "Come on."

"What? I don't know what you should say to him."

"You are so not helpful." She started to walk away and then turned back to him, "Hey!"

"What," Jason groaned.

"The other person, the one Sorel says he doesn't know about, he could be the one who hid the body in the shipment the night of the meeting. You should ask him about that."

Jason nodded and started to walk away when she called him again.

"About telling you to kick Sorel…"

"It's fine."

"Yeah? We're alright?"

Jason walked back and wrapped his arms around her neck, pulling her close and resting his head in her hair, "Always."

"Good."

Emily held her breath as Jason walked to the house and gave her a final wave before going in. _Now or never_, she said to herself as she pulled open the door to the car. _Now or never._

"So where am I taking you?"

"Port Charles Hotel," Lorenzo answered.

Emily rolled her eyes and groaned, "Figures."

"Problem?"

"No. It's just my family owns that hotel," she rubbed her forehead. "Maybe no one will recognize me in this car."

Lorenzo only stared at her as she started the car and when she looked over and noticed the confused look on his face she heaved out a breath, "Listen, they can be…overbearing. My relationship with Sonny is bad enough, knowing about you will probably bring on a fake heart attack from grandfather…"

"I see," he interrupted and continued staring at her.

"Doubtful," she laughed and pulled out of the driveway, "but whatever."

"Are they so horrible?"

"Horrible? No. Ridiculously overprotective? Yes."

"They believe you are in a relationship with a much older, dangerous man," Lorenzo said, confused at why she wouldn't expect them to be overprotective.

"I am in a relationship with a much older, dangerous man."

"Your friend Thomas said it was for business purposes."

"It was," Emily responded, emphasizing the past tense. "What else did Tommy tell you?"

He sat quietly and she grinned out the window.

"Oh don't get quiet now," she said, turning the wheel, as he leaned back into his seat. "How long were you two meeting behind my back? Since we got the Port Charles? Before that…God, I feel like a jealous girlfriend."

"After you were shot I called my father," Lorenzo answered, ignoring her last comment, "my mother came on the phone while I was speaking with him, she's been ill since my brother's death, and she told me that she found the perfect woman for me. She'd found a picture and she said that you looked like Sophie and I was to protect you. I realized you did bear a striking resemblance to my dead wife, whose middle name was Paige, and after that I contacted Thomas Marks."

"Oh." Emily nodded. "Uh, sorry about your mother. What's wrong with her?"

"The doctors aren't quite sure." His only response to her sudden laughter was to raise his eyebrows in her general direction.

"I'm sorry, really. It's just that whenever my grandfather, or sometimes my grandmother for that matter, gets sick and the doctors don't know what's wrong with him we assume he's planning something. I guess it's not like that with your family."

"Your family."

"Yeah, about that—listen, I've had two mothers, varying levels of fathers, brothers that hate each other and, I guess, a long lost cousin. I'm gonna need to go slow with this. Very slow."

"Alright," he answered then slid comfortably into the silence that seemed perfectly natural to her for about two minutes before saying, "Can I ask you something?"

"I guess. What?"

"How did you know about Algeria?"

"I was an honor student in high school," she laughed. "I liked history. Plus Nikolas Cassadine is one of my best friends and as I'm sure you know, that family is a fountain of historic information."

"Yes they are."

"So did Stefan always have a huge stick shoved up his ass?"

"He was always…stoic, but I believe he got worse after Nikolas was born. I can't be sure."

"What about Alexis?"

"She doesn't much like sticks," he answered quickly and surprised her by laughing enthusiastically. "I believe that she may have been born a lawyer, that girl would tell you the sky was yellow and make a good argument for it. She and Luis would go at it for hours."

"I bet they would," she said, laughing.

He turned and gave her a look that she couldn't describe as anything but scolding and it took all her power to hold the laugh that came bubbling out of her for as long as she could.

"Okay, okay," she heaved out a breath and rested her head on the steering while, when they stopped at a red light, trying to regain her composure. "What about you? Stefan said you always wanted to be a professor. Is that true?"

"Yes. History."

"Why?"

"I suppose for the same reason that the Cassadine are so versed in it. You can find the answer to any question you want if you look far enough back into the past."

"Paige used to say that the answers to all life's questions were in pop music and romance novels."

Lorenzo smiled and said, "You call her Paige."

"Yeah, you know…I just…"

"I'm not upset, I understand."

"My family loves me. It's hard enough for them to have to share me with Jason and my friends…I just don't want to hurt them."

"I understand."

"I don't want to hurt you either," she inclined her head toward him as she made a right-hand turn.

"I understand that too."

"Yeah, maybe you do."

He stared at her profile for a minute, amazed at how much she looked like the Sophie that he remembered, and said, "Would you like me to tell you about your mother when she was younger?"

"No," Emily answered quickly and then let out a breath. "Not just yet. Okay?"

"Alright. You said you were an honor roll student in high school."

"Yeah, shockingly."

"Shockingly?"

"I'm not sure if that was a question or a dig at my grammar. But let's just say my teen years were very…adventurous. I seem to attract trouble."

"I believe you may get that from my side of the family."

"That," she smiled, "on top of being a Quartermaine, Jason Morgan's sister, Lucky and Nikolas' best friend. I guess I'm lucky to be alive."

"Maybe. Would you mind me asking you another question?"

"I guess not," she answered giving him a look out of the corner of her eye. He sure had a lot of them for someone who hadn't known he had a daughter a month before.

"Are you happy?"

"In comparison to who," she responded, taken aback.

"To you six years ago."

"I'm not sure I can answer that. Six years ago I didn't know half of what I know now. I was a kid six years ago. I'll say this, most days the good outweighs the bad. Is that good enough?"

"For now," he answered and they spent the rest of the ride to the Port Charles Hotel in silence, father and daughter both staring out their respective windows trying to figure each other out.

* * *

**Back at Joseph Sorel's house**

When Jason came back into the house, Sonny was standing at the door waiting for him and Lucky was standing guard over Sorel, not that anyone really needed to.

"How is everything?"

Jason nodded his head, he heard the underlying question; _How is Emily? _"Fine. Johnny and Max are getting the car ready. We'll set it up to look like he went off a cliff."

"Cops'll know it's staged."

"Do we care?"

"No."

"I had Johnny call for another car, it'll be here soon."

"Good. Anything else?"

"Something Em said," Jason answered as he looked over at Sorel and Sonny raised his eyebrows. "She mentioned that we should ask him about the body in the shipment."

"She thinks Sorel did it?"

"No," Jason shook his head, "The guy who needed Marks dead. She thinks Sorel may know more about him."

"Could be why Tommy asked Em to meet him in Sorel's territory the night he died. He knew Sorel wasn't a threat anymore, but someone else was. She did say he'd been on edge about something and he wanted to talk to her. I think she assumed it had to do with the Alcazar's or the Cassadine's…maybe not."

"Maybe he found out who the other threat is."

Sonny nodded in Sorel's direction. "Let's see."

They both walked over to where Sorel was tied to the chair and Sonny motioned for Lucky to remove the other man's gag.

"What do you want now? What did you do with my wife?"

"Interesting order," Lucky said shaking his head. "Would you like to be told what we want before or after you hear the fate of your wife?"

Sorel looked at the three men standing in front of him and realized his misstep, they all allowed themselves to be guided by the needs of women, "Where is she?"

"Probably on her way to her mother's house. Women have an odd way of not giving a fuck about men who beat them. Go figure."

"I never…" He didn't even finish the lie. By the time he got the words out of his mouth he realized that the three pairs of eyes staring back at him belonged to men who didn't give a damn what he had to say, not about that anyway. "What are you going to do with me?"

"With you and to you are two separate things. Which do you think is more important?"

"Enough," Sonny stepped between Lucky and Sorel. "What do you know about the body we found in my shipment?"

"What body?"

"You don't want to play stupid with me, especially not with Lucky all but begging to kill you."

"I don't know who the body was."

"What about who put it there?"

"He'll kill me."

"So will I."

"His name is Lansing," Sorel said, lifting his eyes from the floor and staring Sonny in the face.

"Why would the DA put a body in my shipment," Sonny asked, more to himself than anyone else.

"No. Not him, his father. Trevor Lansing."

"Why?"

"You don't know?" Sorel shook his head. "Neither do I. All I know is that he meets with Nikolai at a club sometimes and he hates you."

"What club?" Sonny waited while Sorel searched the tiny database that was his brain and then gave him the name of the club. "Anything else?"

"No," Sorel answered and his head shot up hopefully when Johnny walked through the door.

"Boss. Car's ready."

Sonny nodded in Sorel's general direction, "Take him."

Johnny walked across the room and untied Sorel so that he could drag him across the room and out the door. When they were gone Sonny looked to Lucky and Jason and asked, "Have either of you ever heard of Trevor Lansing?"

After they both shook their heads, Lucky said, "This seems to be personal though. Em said that his son had a real hate on for you already."

"Why?" Jason looked at both Sonny and Lucky and realized they were all in the same situation with no clue as to who the hell Trevor and Ric Lansing were and what they had to do with Sonny.

"I've never heard of either of them."

"Maybe you have and don't know it," Lucky guessed. "I mean people hold grudges for lots of shit, maybe you kicked his son's ass in high school or…"

"Or what," Sonny turned to look when Lucky's guessing game dropped off.

"Maybe it's not you. If this is a father, son thing then maybe it's something Mike did."

"Alright, we'll have Stan look into it and see what he can find."

"Maybe we should ask Alcazar," Jason broached the topic carefully; he knew that Sonny would not be very interested in trusting the other man, even if he was Emily's biological father. "If Lansing is connected to Nikolai then maybe his family has heard of the guy."

"We'll ask."

All three men turned their heads as Max opened the door to the house and said, "The cleaning crew is here."

"Good," Sonny started walked towards the door with Jason and Lucky following closely behind. "Make sure they wipe down the kitchen too, Emily was in there."

Max agreed and watched as his three bosses, because more and more Lucky was becoming more a boss than a guard or an errand boy, left the house.

* * *

Timeline: (ending with August 2006)--sorry, this is the best I could get it to format with the damn edit/preview thingy!

**2006**, August—Sam McCall (26) comes to Port Charles

July—Bella (9) comes to Port Charles

June—_The Road Less Traveled_ begins

**2004**, September 12—Jason and Brenda marry

**2002**, June—Emily (19, 20) disappears from Port Charles

**1997**, February 7—Bella is born

**1996**, December 29—Michael is born

**1995**,Emily, believed to be 12 years old (actually 13), adopted by the Quartermaines

**1983**, January 17—When Emily believed she was born

**1982**, January 17—When Emily as actually born

**1981**, January—Sophie miscarries first child

November 5—Nikolas Cassadine Born

**1980,** March 23—Sam McCall (Cassadine) Born

January 10—Sophie and Lorenzo get married; the Cassadines are cut-off from the Alcazars

**1979**, November 29—Alexander Nikolai dies

October 20—Sophie and Lorenzo's engagement announced

**1977**, June—Sophie, Alexis, and Stefan meet up with Lorenzo and Luis for the first time

May—Alexander Nikolai married Andrejs' mother

**1976**, July—First meeting with Sophie (16) and Alexis (13); Stefan is also 16

**1963**, January 8—Alexis Davis (AKA Natasha Cassadine, AKA Corey) Born

**1962**, Andrejs Nikolai Born

Simon Morris Born

**1960**, January 3—Sophie Paige Nikolai (AKA Paige Bowen, AKA Sam) Born

June 13—Stefan Cassadine Born

**1959**, March—Stavros Cassadine Born

March 18—Lorenzo Alcazar Born

**1957**, March 7—Luis Alcazar Born

* * *

You know the drill, _Loke!_, click that pretty little review button at the bottom of the page, _Loke!,_ and let me know what you're thinking_, Loke_!! :)


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will! Wish I did!

* * *

"Sonny, Sonny, Sonny!"

"Bella, Bella, Bella!" Sonny laughed as his little sister came running down the stairs and hopped up onto the couch next to him, scattering his papers on the floor.

She grinned up at him, eye shinning, not in the least bit contrite for the mess she'd made. "Do I get to go?"

"Go where," he asked even though he knew exactly what she was talking about. He'd promised her earlier in the week that if she was good then she could go with Gia on one of her shoots as a reward, because she was supposed to spend the day with Michael, but he was going to be busy having a very important conversation with his parents.

"You know, with Gia. Do I get to go? My homework for the weekend is all done, my room is clean, and I didn't get into trouble for talking too much at school."

Sonny's only response was to raise his eyebrows, he knew better than that.

"Okay," she drawled out the word. "Once. But that was all and I still say it was Mikey's fault, he talked to me first."

"What else have you got for me?"

"What else," she asked confused.

"Yeah, those things you named are all things you are supposed to be doing. What did you do extra?"

Emily stood at the top of the stairs waiting as Bella's face turned from confused and maybe a little bit worried to lighting up like a mega watt bulb when the inspiration hit. She reached up quickly and gave her brother a smacking kiss on the cheek.

"Was that extra enough?"

"I don't know," Sonny answered laughing and without turning around said, "Em, what do you think?"

"Well," Emily walked the rest of the way down the stairs and cocked her head to the side as she stared at the two of them looking up at her, "a kiss from a beautiful young girl, in my experience, makes most men melt. Are you immune?"

Bella watched the two of them carefully. She was sure she would get her way, but still entertained by their playfulness.

"No, I guess not," Sonny said looked down at his sister. "Go get your jacket from your room, Gia'll be here soon."

"Yeehaw!" Bella gave him another kiss on the check and then darted up the stairs.

"Yeehaw?" Sonny shook his head.

"Don't look at me," Emily walked around the couch and took Bella's open seat. "What was that about anyway?"

"You don't know?"

"Nuh uh."

"Michael and Bella were supposed to go to the movies today, but Bren and Jason are telling him about the baby so Gia offered to take Bella with her on a photo shoot in the park."

"Oh. Cool." Emily grinned and looked into Sonny's face, searching for any obvious signs of stress. She hadn't realized that Gia had offered to take Bella with her because she'd been too worried about him. Ever since the day after Sorel's murder he'd been on edge. They'd found out, thanks to Stan, that Adella had worked for Trevor one summer when Sonny was a kid, but they hadn't found out anything that would make Trevor hate him and Sonny couldn't even remember his mother working for the man. He'd told her that his life, as a child, had been split into two categories, before Mike left and after Deke, the stuff in between hadn't been important to him.

"This is hard on her," Sonny said, pulling Emily out of her own head.

"What makes you say that?"

"She went from having a mother and a normal life to having guards and a brother who has no time for her."

"She's got a best friend that lives across the hall, two cool model aunts, and a bunch of super powerful guys who would walk through fire for her. What else could a kid ask for?"

"Stability?"

"Overrated."

"Yeah, well, you forgot something else she has."

"What?" _A newly acquired trust fund worth millions?_

"Her big brother's girlfriend who teaches her how to meditate and do karate I the middle of my living room."

Emily grinned sheepishly, "Awww. Are you still pissed about the broken lamp? It was an accident."

"An accident that broke a twenty-five hundred dollar lamp."

"Damn thing was too expensive anyway." She grinned and snuggled up to his neck. "And didn't I apologize for it later that night? As a matter of fact, I more than apologize, more than once." She leaned over to kiss him.

"Euw," Gia groaned as she stormed in the apartment and shut the door in Johnny's face. "Get a room."

"It's my penthouse," Sonny answered and pulled Emily closer.

"Yeah well show some respect for the innocent eyes."

"Innocent? Where?"

"Well I didn't mean me," she said and plopped down in the chair in front of her. "Speaking of, where's my little protégé?"

Sonny shook his head and answered, "I sent her for a jacket, but she should be back by now. I'll go get her." Sonny unwound himself from Emily's arms and went in search of his little sister.

Gia looked at Emily intently as Sonny walked up the stairs and once he was out of sight asked, "How is he?"

"He's dealing…" Emily answered shooting a look up the stairs, "sort of. He really doesn't remember Trevor and Stan couldn't find anything."

"Why not?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Sonny really didn't give him time to look. Stan's been in Arizona working on getting information about the missing year of my life and my birth certificate so Sonny told him he only had 24 hours to try and see what Trevor's connection to him was and then he had to go back to my stuff. Even after he found out about Adella working for the guy Sonny wouldn't extend the time and he's only got the one computer guy. Mostly though, I think he doesn't want to know the truth. He's got this vision of his mother as some sort of angel wronged, I don't think he could bare it if he found out that being with Mike was the best decision she ever made. A gambler, an abusive psycho, and now some sort of vengeance seeking freak—he doesn't want to believe his mom just had shitty taste in men."

"I can see that. I mean it would suck to realize that the man you've hated and found unworthy for years—your father—was the best she ever chose."

"He'll have to face it sooner or later."

"Sometimes later really is better," Gia said quickly as Sonny came down the swinging Bella between his legs as she giggled. "Hey kiddo, you ready?"

"Yup," Bella smiled and dropped out of her brothers arms. "Hey could I, maybe, be in a picture?"

"A girl after my own heart," Gia laughed. "We'll see."

"Sir," Johnny opened the door and glared at Gia. "Ms. McCall here to see Emily."

"Send her in."

"Oh," Sam walked through the door and noticed the three adults and one child standing around the room. "Uh, sorry. Am I interrupting?"

"Nope," Gia walked with Bella towards the door. "Come on kiddo. We were just leaving."

"They didn't have to rush," Sam said as she watched the door close before she turned around to look at Sonny and Emily.

"They didn't," Emily smiled. "The two of them together are just naturally hyper. What's up?"

"Uh," Sam sat down on the chair in front of her, just as Gia had, and started fidgeting with her fingers and the hem of her shirt. "Have you spoken to my mother? I mean I know you've been busy with Sorel being killed and…Well, I know you've been busy, but I would really like to see her."

"Are you two hungry," Sonny asked as Emily sat down and he started towards the kitchen. "I'm gonna fix some lunch."

"He didn't have to…I'm sorry about all of this. I should have kept my mouth shut about Sorel."

"Don't worry. Sonny feels like he has to feed everyone. He thinks the whole damn world is undernourished and eats crap. He wasn't mad. What do you know about Sorel?"

"Only what I hear. It was his territory that Tommy was killed in—or it used to be his, and that he accidently drove his car off a cliff even though he'd had it for years and had driven the cliffs nearly every day since he moved to Port Charles and never had an accident. Foul play is suspected, but the PCPD isn't getting the help it needs from the FBI to launch a real forensic investigation."

"Well," Emily laughed. "You hear a lot."

"I wish I could have been there."

"Me too."

Sam raised her eyebrows, "You weren't?"

"No, not really."

"Oh."

"You seem confused."

"No," Sam shook her head. "I'd just assumed it was you who did it. I don't know why."

"Well…we'll say that I would have liked to and leave it at that."

"Alright," Sam leaned back, "about my mother…"

"Right. Honestly I haven't really talked to her yet, but I did see her brother, Stefan."

"What did he have to say?"

"Not at lot and too much," Emily just grimaced at the confused look Sam shot in her general direction. "Apparently our mothers knew each other when they were young."

"And I'm guessing that you didn't know about that."

"Oh you could write a book about all the things my mother never told me."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault," Emily groaned and tried to reel in her emotions. It wouldn't do either of them any good if she started ranting about this. "You haven't had it much better."

"I always knew my parents were liars, it wasn't a big surprise for me."

"Well," Emily laughed, "there is that, I guess. Anyway, I'll tell you what I know about Alexis and everyone else in this screwed up situation."

Emily and Sam both settled in for the story and Sam listened to the whole thing without interrupting until, at the end, she finally said, "So these guys, Simon and Nikolai, you think someone hired them to kill my sister…why?"

"I don't know. Honestly every time I answer one question, ten more come up. The only thing I know for sure is that all the stuff that's happening now has been brewing for years."

"Great," Sam groaned, "just what I always wanted, to be in the middle of someone's sick plan for revenge. I guess I always figured that if something like this happened it would be because of an old con job. Spinelli's gonna love this."

"Spinelli?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, he's a kid I know. Hacker. He's helped me on a few identities and stuff in the past and he kinda stuck. I originally had him looking into this stuff, but none of it was computerized."

"Oh. Huh." Emily filed that little bit of information away. This kid, Spinelli, help with information on Trevor. "So when do you want too…"

"Where is he?" Alexis Davis barged through the penthouse door and unceremoniously slammed it behind her, in Johnny's face.

"Uh," Emily hurriedly stood in front of Sam. "Who?"

"Who? Sonny, that's who!"

"Why do you…"

"What the hell is going on in here…" Sonny came walking out of the kitchen after he heard the front door slam. He stopped short when he noticed Sam and Emily standing like deer caught in headlights and Alexis with proverbial smoke shooting from her ears. "Oh."

"What were you thinking killing Sorel?" Alexis whipped around to face Sonny. "You know you don't have immunity from prosecution in Port Charles.'

"Wait," Emily looked between the two of them. "That was part of the deal."

"Was," Alexis emphasized. "He had Tommy and I renegotiate after he found out that you could still be charged federally. Since you aren't actually an FBI agent, if you got caught doing something unsanctioned, like killing Andrejs, then you could have been prosecuted. The new deal says that you are all safe, federally, but the FBI will offer you no help if you are prosecuted by the PCPD or the new DA who, by the way," she turned back to Sonny, "is looking for your head on a platter."

"He was no longer a rival," Sonny explained, "Nikolai has his territory."

"Oh well, I'll just run right over and tell the police that when they come to arrest you! You idiot!"

"How could you," Emily forgot she was standing between Sam and Alexis and walked over to yell at Sonny.

"Em…" Sonny automatically knew when Sam and Alexis laid eyes on each other.

"No! How could you do this without telling me?"

Sonny grabbed Emily's shoulders and spun her around, "Now is not the time!"

"It damn sure…" She stopped as soon as she saw Alexis and Sam staring at each other. "Oh."

"Uh," Sam took a few steps towards Alexis. "Hi, I'm…"

"I know exactly who you are. My daughter."

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this right now," Brenda asked as she sat down on the couch next to Jason. "I mean this could wait a little while longer if you wanted."

"Why would I want to wait?"

"Because Jason, everything with Sonny and Emily, not to mention Sorel…there's just a lot going on."

"Do you think there will be less stuff going on if we wait?"

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Bren," he reached over and pulled her closer so their hips were touching on the couch. "There will always be something."

"You're right, of course you're right."

Both of their heads shot up when Michael came running down the stairs, "What's up?"

Brenda smiled up at him as he stared down at her and Jason; he'd gotten so big since she first came back to Port Charles, and so grown up. "We need to talk to you about something."

"I know that's what dad said. Am I in trouble for talking during class? I just need to tell Izzy one thing, I didn't mean to keep talking."

"No," Jason stood up, "that's not what this is about. But you do need to stop doing that."

"I know," Michael said as he let his father steer him around the couch and onto it.

Brenda watched them, impressed by Jason scolding Michael, she knew that he cared very little about whether or not the boy talked in class, but he wanted his son to get a good education.

"I'm sorry," Michael said, more to Brenda that to his father, he also knew that Jason didn't really care if he talked during class.

"It's okay," Brenda smiled, realizing they were both trying very hard to do what they knew they were supposed to do. "Don't be sorry just try a little harder next time. That's all I ask. You know what I do when I want to talk to your dad, or someone else, and I know I'm not supposed to because they are busy?"

"No," the young boy perked up a little. He very rarely got to hear about something that his father or Brenda did wrong in their lives and was always interested when they decided to tell him. "What?"

"Well, you can just make yourself a little note in your notebook and wait till it's appropriate, that way no one gets in trouble and you don't forget what you wanted to say."

"Okay," Michael nodded. "I'll try that. So what did you want to talk about then?"

"Uh, okay, well we have some good news for you. At least I hope its good news, at least your dad and I think it's good news, but I guess that doesn't mean you have to think it's good news. If you want to you can feel bad about it, or good, whatever feels right for you. Just be honest, if you want to be."

Both Jason and Michael looked at each other confused and smiling. They were used to Brenda going around in circles before she actually got whatever point she was trying to make, but that didn't make it any less entertaining or puzzling.

"Are we gonna have to be vegetarians again?" He could still remember the horrible tasting food from the last time she gut this worked up about something.

"What? No. Why, do you want to?"

"No! It's just last time you were like this it was because you wanted us to be vegetarian."

"Oh, no. No, we aren't ever gonna try that again. Ever," she grimaced remembering how miserable the three of them were for the five days they tried to be vegetarian before she finally gave up and ordered them pizza. She also remembered the argument she had with Jason about him drinking beer when they were trying to eat healthier…and the make-up sex that came after. "This has nothing to do with food kiddo. I took a test a little while ago and your dad and I went to the doctor to be sure. I'm pregnant. With a baby." _As opposed to a goat, _she thought to herself and shook her head.

"Oh. That's…better that being vegetarian," he said and then became very quiet.

"Hey," Jason stared, after Brenda shot him a worried look. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. This is good, right, you guys are gonna have a new baby."

"Are you mad about that," Jason asked.

"No," he answered quickly, assuredly, "No."

"What's the problem then?"

"Nothing," Michael looked down at his feet. "I told you. You guys are gonna have a kid. Can I go upstairs?"

"No, what's…"

"Another," Brenda interrupted. "We're gonna have another kid. We've already got one."

"No," Michael continued looking down. "Your aunt Brenda, you won't be my mom, just the new babies."

Jason scrubbed his hands down his face and shook his head at the irony of the situation, he'd always believed that when something like this happened, when a conversation like this had to take place, that it would be about him and AJ, not Brenda.

Brenda broached the subject carefully, realizing Jason was dealing with a sadness of his own, "Does it make you mad that I'm having a new baby?"

"No. You want baby that's yours, I'm not."

"I don't believe that."

"Why not," Michael asked, finally taking his eyes off the ground.

"Well, I feel like you are just as much mine as you are your daddy's," Brenda answered, ignoring the implications. Michael was Jason's child, no matter what his DNA said.

"You do."

"Yes."

"But you'll be the new baby's biological parent, like dad is mine, like Carly was."

"Yes." He'd learned so much over the years, realized so much, she could hardly keep up with it all. "But I'll still love you just as much."

"You might love your real baby more though."

"Hey," Jason finally found his voice and turned his son to face him on the couch. "How much do I love your aunt Emily?"

"A lot, she's your sister."

"Only because Monica and Alan adopted her. She used to be someone else's daughter and I wasn't her brother then, but I am now right?"

"Yeah."

"And is she still your aunt?"

"Yeah."

"Because you love her and she loves you, right?"

"And you."

Jason smiled, "And me."

"But she'd adopted, I'm not."

"Do you want to be?"

"I don't know," Michael scrubbed his hand down his face and pinched his nose, just as his father had minutes before, "maybe. Would that make Grandma Bobbie not my grandma?"

"No."

"Hey," Brenda turned her body left so that she could face both Michael and Jason, "you want to know what the biggest thing your daddy and others have taught me about family?"

"Sure, what?"

"That while biology is good, it's not the most important thing."

"Love is." Michael smiled up at the woman he'd come to think of as his mother.

"Yeah, love is, but you know what else is just as important? Choice. Your mommy, before she died, chose to love you and she chose a great daddy for you, and your daddy chose to love your aunt Emily, and uncle Sonny and your grandma Bobby and all your other family chose to love you. That's choice and, biology or not, it's the biggest, most important thing."

"So because I chose to love you and dad and even the new baby we all get to be family no matter what?"

"Exactly."

"Alright," Michael nodded. "Cool. So is it gonna be a girl or a boy?"

"We don't know that yet. What do you think?"

"A girl, its gotta be."

"Really, why?"

"Cause there are already two boys."

Brenda laughed at that, "Good logic."

"Can I go call Izzy and tell her?"

Brenda looked to Jason, over Michael's head, and he nodded, "Yeah, sure, she's with Gia so use my cell phone—it's on my desk."

"Okay. Cool," the young boy stood up and hugged his dad, kissed Brenda on the cheek and headed the stairs before turning back and saying, "Is the new baby gonna have to share my room?"

"No, why?" Brenda turned to look at him on the stairs.

"Cause the other one is your office with Izzy's bed in it."

"Oh." _Shit. _"We'll figure it out."

"Okay," Michael shrugged and darted upstairs.

"That went well," Brenda leaned across the couch and laid her head in Jason's lap.

"You did good."

"You too," she grinned up at him. "Jason?"

"Yeah."

Brenda laughed, "Where is our baby gonna sleep?"

"I have no idea."

Both of them laughed as Jason leaned down to kiss her on the forehead.

* * *

Sonny leaned against the counter trying to ignore the annoyed looks that Emily was shooting at him. They'd left Alexis and Sam in the other room to give them a little privacy during their first real conversation as mother and daughter.

"I was going to tell you," Sonny said, finally breaking the silence.

"When you were arrested for Sorel's murder? What about Lucky and Jason?"

"They agreed that protecting you against federal charges was the most important thing."

"And Tommy? What did he say? I know he had to be in on it."

"He brought that fact that you could be charged to our attention and help us protect you."

Emily shook her head, annoyed, "God, when did he decide the best way to protect me was to lie to me?"

"I don't know. Did he know that you planned to kill Nikolai even though you knew the feds wanted him alive to prosecute?"

"That doesn't—"

"Fuck that," Sonny interrupted and shoved away from the counter to stand in front of her. "We all get it, you're tough and strong and capable and don't need any help from any of us unless you ask."

"I never—"

"I'm not fucking done! For once shut up and listen. We all let you take the lead with Sorel, Jason even bloodied him for you, we let you take your time deciding when to talk to Alcazar even though he could have been helpful sooner, but don't think that we're all gonna sit back like pussy-whipped idiots waiting for you to decide where you want us! Now I'm done."

"Good then I can take the time to tell you to practice what you preach. You tell me that talking to Alcazar could be important, but you pull Stan off his investigation of Trevor and your mother and put him on some stupid missing year of my life that may or may not be important and even if it is he can find no records to help with."

"You don't know if that year is important, you can't remember it!"

"Fine, hire someone else to look into Lansing then, both of them."

"Both of them? You could ask your friend Liz about Ric."

"Oh God," Emily rolled her eyes. "You really think they have pillow talk about his psycho father? And even if they do, I won't use her like that."

"But I should use my mother's connection to his father?"

"Because it's probably why he hates you! And I wasn't suggesting you use your mother. Did you hear me ask you to do a fucking séance?" She regretted the words almost as soon as they left her mouth, but she wasn't about to pull punches now. Not when it mattered.

"You're right, though it might be better to use that last suggestion on your mother."

"What is that supposed to mean," she asked, suddenly less regretful of her own statements about his mother.

"I thought you got A's in school. Figure it out. You mother obviously saw all of this coming, mine didn't."

"Innocent Adella who also couldn't see that Trevor was a psycho, Mike was a gambler, and Deke was and abusive ass who was never gonna stop beating her. Oh how I wish my mother had been more dense."

"If I'm keeping score right then your mother had an abusive ass and a psycho of her own. And the deal she made with the second got her the first," Sonny got up from the table and started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Wait," she brushed her hand against his shoulder and he jerked away. "Just wait," she scrubbed her hand over her face and took a calming breath. "This, attacking each other, won't get us anywhere. Let's just take a step back, if I call Alcazar tomorrow and have a real conversation with him about my mother and what's going on then will you consider hiring someone to look into Trevor and your mother? Sam says she knows a kid who is good with computers and trustworthy."

"Fine."

"Good, great," she sat down at the table, ran her hands through her hair, and looked up at him from hooded eyes. "Listen, I shouldn't have said what about your mom."

"Yeah," he turned, yet again, to leave.

"I don't know why I do that," she said it more to herself than to him. "I guess maybe it runs in the family—one of them anyway. I find the one thing that could make someone hate me and I let it fly. It works well in an interrogation, finding some ones weakness; I guess I just need to learn to turn it off."

"I don't hate you," Sonny walked over to a chair, sat down, and pulled her out of hers and onto his lap, burying his face in her hair.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

Emily turned, straddled his waist, "One of these days we'll learn to be affectionate without being cruel first."

"One of these days," Sonny laughed.

"Can I ask you something, honestly, without you getting pissed?"

"Yes."

"Do you ever blame your mother for your childhood?"

"No," he answered quickly, "I blame Mike."

"Yeah. That's what I figured. What type of person does it make me that I blame my mother?"

"An honest one."

"You're honest."

"I think," he rubbed his forehead, "maybe not about this."

She said nothing, only rested her head against his.

* * *

"Well," Sam fidgeted with her fingers, "this is awkward."

"I'm sorry."

"No, I didn't mean…it's not your fault it's awkward."

"Actually it is."

Sam sat down on the couch and shook her head, "I'm not doing any of this right. I keep screwing it up."

"That probably runs in the family," Alexis laughed despite herself. "Cassadine's aren't known for dealing with their emotions very well."

"Neither are McCall's. What about the other—my father's family. What about them?"

"Some better than others."

Sam nodded slowly, "There were a million things I wanted to ask you—to say to you. Now I can't remember any of them. Emily tried to explain why you had to give me up, what was going on. I guess I understand. I guess."

"What did she say?"

"That you were young, your stepmother—who you thought was a step-aunt or something like that at the time—was nuts, you weren't supposed to see my father and everything was just fucked up."

"Well that's close enough to the truth, though I'm sure knowing it doesn't mean you understand it. I didn't understand it at the time. I was young," she emphasized the word, "but only technically. I'd already been treated horribly by Helena and Stavros, seen my mother murdered, and all but lost my best friend. The truth is, because I need to be honest with you, that I was in no condition to try to raise a child. However, I can promise you this, if I had been even almost in my right mind at the time you would have ended up with your father or, at the very least, in a better home."

"You weren't in your right mind?"

Alexis took a deep breath, "Everything happened very quickly. First Stefan began spending less time with me, then I lost Sophie and Enzo, then I realized I would lose Luis too and my father confronted me before I had any clue at all that he knew. And when he told me what would happen I was so happy he wasn't banishing me from Stefan or ordering me to get an abortion that all I could do was agree. It wasn't until much later that I realized what I'd agreed to."

"Did you ever think of me? Did you ever consider looking for me?"

"I've thought of you every day and I considered looking for you hundreds of times, but I was never sure what I might be taking from you. And after I realized I was Mikkos' child I knew I could never risk Helena finding out about you."

"Yeah, about that…"

"Later. Trust me you don't want to start worrying about that quite yet."

"Okay, well can you tell me about my father's family, or about you and him?

"Luis," she said the name with a bit of nostalgia in her voice, and a bit of anger. "If you stay in town you'll hear a lot about him, mostly bad, but that's not who I remember. I remember a sweet boy who wanted to please his father more than anything. I remember a man who wanted what was best for his family and those he loved. Lorenzo, his brother, wanted to be a professor, but Luis never thought of doing anything other than following in his father's footsteps. That one goal overshadowed everything else and consumed him."

"And his love for you."

Alexis smiled, "Until Sophie and Enzo married he didn't see them as different things. He always assumed that one day he would convince Mikkos to let him marry me—to strengthen our family connection. In that way, concerning that one topic, he was much more naïve than I was."

"But you loved him?"

"Yes, very much and for a very long time."

"And then…"

"And then he changed and it became hard for anyone to love him."

"Because he believed you aborted me."

"Because he finally realized that his fantasy wouldn't come true. Mikkos never would have accepted a marriage between us and even if he would have at one point, he never would have agreed after Enzo and Sophie got married."

"Listen," Sam toyed with hands again, "maybe we could talk this through another time—in a more private place."

"Good idea," Alexis half smiled as she realized that she could no longer hear the background noise of Sonny and Emily arguing in the other room.

Both women looked up as Brenda bounced happily into the penthouse.

"Oh," Brenda looked at both women, surprised, "hey Alexis. Is something wrong? I came to pick up Em, but…"

"No, everything's fine. I was just…"

Alexis trailed off as Emily and Sonny came back into the living room from the kitchen.

"Hey Bren," Emily smiled a she walked into the living room. "What's up? How did everything go with Michael?"

"Good. I'm giving him some free time with Jase and we need to get going."

"Get going?"

"Lunch with Lila. Remember?"

"Oh shit," Emily looked to Sonny and then to Alexis and Sam, not sure if she really wanted to leave any of them alone together.

"Are you too busy?"

"No, it's just…"

"Go ahead," Sonny said. "You need to spend more time with your family. I promised Lila when we were there the other day that you'd see her more."

"Uh," Emily looked to Sam. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's good."

"Okay," Emily kissed Sonny on the cheek and left.

"So…" Sam looked between Sonny and Alexis.

"Emily said you know a kid who is good with computers."

"Uh yeah, Spinelli. Why?"

"Do you think you think you could call him? I may need his help with something."

"Seriously," Sam asked Sonny. "Something dangerous…?"

Sonny looked to Alexis and the other woman shook her head, "Not really."

"Alright. I'll call him," Sam looked around for a phone, because she didn't have her cell phone. "Is there somewhere I can…" She vaguely gestured around the room.

"The kitchen."

"So," Alexis sat down on the couch. "You're having sex with my daughter's younger cousin."

"You had sex with Alcazar."

"Yes, well, I was young. Emily has that excuse, you don't."

Sonny gave her a winning smile, "I'm young at heart."

"Yeah right."

* * *

"So…"

"So…?"

"What were Alexis and Sam McCall doing at Sonny's," Brenda asked as she stretched out in the back of the limo.

"Anyone ever told you that you're nosy?"

"You brother, all the time. So did they talk about Luis and Alexis being Sam's moth—"

"How…" Emily shook her head and grinned despite herself. "Jason has a big mouth."

Brenda laughed and said, "Weren't you the one who argued for full disclosure? Well now you got it."

"I take it back. I bet you just love this."

"Are you kidding me? Your crap makes my life look normal. I am eating it up."

"Glad you're enjoying yourself. Freak."

"Love you too."

"So how did Michael handle everything?"

"Once he realized we weren't trying to replace him he was good. He wanted to know where the baby would sleep."

"Oh," Emily shook her head confused. _Why would he want to know that? _She started counting up all the rooms in Jason and Brenda's penthouse and then started laughing, "Where is the baby going to sleep?"

"We have no clue," Brenda busted out laughing.

While they were double over laughing at each other the car came to an abrupt stop and Emily yelled to the driver, "Hey, baby on board back here. Be careful." However, she barely had the sentence out of her mother before she realized that something was wrong. She immediately reached for the door handle and when she couldn't get it open she started to reach behind her, but she realized she'd left her gun at the penthouse. Before she could figure out exactly what was going on or try figure out to open the doors she noticed a weird smell in the air and smoke coming from the vents. Both she and Brenda were unconscious before either had a chance to do anything else.

The man opened the door to the limo and reached in to pull out Emily, when he noticed Brenda he turned to his companion and asked, "What do we do about the other one?"

"Leave her," was the answer. "Boss said to only get the one."

They pulled Emily out of the back of the limo and left Brenda and the driver passed out from the gas that had been piped into the vents. Less than twenty minutes after Brenda Barrett and Emily Quartermaine left Harborview Towers the latter was kidnapped and the former was passed out in the back of her limo with no protection.


	23. Chapter TwentyThree

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will!

* * *

"Man, this bitch is dumb." The guard who pulled Emily Quartermaine out of the limo hours before smirked as he watched her through a two-way mirror.

"Now what makes you say that," Simon Morris asked as he stepped up to the window and began watching his captive.

"She just keeps pulling and shaking; all she's doing is tiring herself out. There is no way she's getting off that pipe, or unbound. She could hang from that ceiling forever if you wanted her to."

"Hmmm…I guess if I was as stupid was you I would believe that too."

"Leave us," both men heard the voice from the corner and both also realized that the speaker was talking to the guard and not to Simon. "What is she doing, Simon?"

Simon cocked is head to the side and answered, "Right now I believe she's meditating." He continued looking through the window at Emily with her long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, sweat dripping down her torso and covering her black bra before hitting the top of her jeans and stopping. Her eyes were closed and her hands fisted above her head so that she was holding onto the pipe instead of simply hanging from it.

"Interesting. And when she lets go of the pipe and struggles, what is she doing then?" Nikolai got up from the chair and walked over to the two-way mirror to stand next to his friend

"She's trying to control her adrenaline which serves two purposes. First, it keeps the pain of hanging from taking over and second it keeps her from passing out or lowering her reflexes. Very smart. She's trying to keep herself alert and ready to fight."

"You sound impressed."

"Oh I am. She's an amazing specimen; I'd love to push her further."

"One day," Nikolai soothed his friend. "How long before Corinthos and Morgan find her?"

"Not long. If Sorel didn't tell them about this place before he died it won't take them long to find it. Do we have what you needed?"

"Yes." Nikolai looked back at Emily and the cotton ball on the bend of her left arm where he'd had blood taken from.

"Good."

Nikolai nodded as he turned his attention to the movement in the corner of his eye when Emily let go of the pipe above her and began swinging her legs and pulling herself up at the wrist instead of using her hands.

"She's beautiful," Simon smiled as he traced her face in glass.

"You think so," Nikolai turned to his friend, surprised. He'd never heard the man refer to a woman as anything other than acceptable. "Not as beautiful as her mother."

"We'll see."

"You, my friend, are too much the skeptic, but we'll know soon enough won't we?" Nikolai looked at his watch and then to his friend. "We need to go."

Simon started to leave and then hesitated when Emily again heaved her body up and wrapped her legs around the pipe above her head so that she was almost crawling on the ceiling.

"Don't worry," Nikolai said as he walked away from the mirror. "We'll have much more time with her later to test her strength. I'm sure you won't be disappointed."

Both men left the room and as they shut the door Simon turned to Nikolai and said, "They say she was his best student." He shot wan smiled toward the door. "We'll see."

* * *

"What do we have," Sonny paced in front of the penthouse window.

"Everything and nothing," Lucky answered. "We know she has to be in the property Sorel told us about, but we haven't had time to find exactly where that property is. We've got a team of men ready to go after her as soon as you give us the order, but Jason isn't here to lead them."

"I told him to stay at the hospital until Brenda wakes up—they don't think whatever gas was used will affect the baby, but they can't be sure yet. I'll lead the team."

"You can't." Lucky wasn't sure he was going to be able to say the words until they actually left his mouth.

"Excuse me?"

"You shouldn't." He amended and took a step back. He was not interested in being on Sonny's bad side, he'd seen the older man flip out a few times in the past and more often than not it ended up with someone, though it was usually Sonny himself, bleeding. "If we don't get a layout of this place then we'll have to go in blind. You could get killed or arrested, if the PCPD actually finds her. Emily and Jason would both tell you that is not good. You can't split the teams focus between finding Emily, being careful, and protecting you."

Sonny said nothing, only nodded.

"Look," Lucky pulled out a map, "we have two possibilities. We could hit both but the problem is we don't know what kind of surveillance they have or what happens if we tip them off to our presences too soon. They could kill her."

"Do we even know if they have surveillance?"

"Again, sort of. If it's one of the two places we've followed Sorel to—yes, we've seen their men meeting him at the entrances and there are fences around the property with cameras. But if she's not in one of those places then we are even blinder."

Sonny shook his head and started to speak when Max came into the penthouse and said, "Mr. Corinthos, Ms. McCall is here with…"

"Thanks Max," Sam interrupted as drug a young guy with bad hair and a goofy smile through the door and shut the door in Max's face. "Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help."

"How?"

"Right," Sam drew the word out and pulled the boy, who'd been trying and failing to hide behind her, around so he was facing Sonny. "This is Spinelli—Spinelli this is Mr. Corinthos," she turned to Sonny, "He's the computer guy I told you about."

Spinelli smiled, "Hello Don Corinthos of Port Charles, New York."

Sonny started to talk to Spinelli, but instead turned to Sam, "What is he talking about?"

"He's…nothing. He's just a little different, but he's great with computers."

"How great?" Lucky asked, staring at the boy.

"I am the Jackal," Spinelli began, "assassin of cyber space and ruler of the dominion of ones and zeros."

"Yeah," Lucky shook his head, "right, come with me."

Lucky took Spinelli's arm and dragged him out of the penthouse to the security room that was on the floor above them.

"He's…"

"A little quirky, I know," Sam interrupted.

"I was gonna say high."

"Yeah, about that, it's only pot and it doesn't interfere with his ability to work, I promise."

"I'll give him thirty minutes."

Sam nodded her head and started fidgeting with her fingers, "Good. Great. Wonderful."

"Why do you care if we use him? Does he give you a percentage?"

"That's low…possible, but low. No, he doesn't give me a percentage. He's the best, I wanted to help."

Sonny nodded, again. "Why?"

"Familial obligation," Sam answered and blew out a breath as he only stared at her. "Alright. Fine. I like Emily and she's been really good to me. I wanna repay the favor and honestly she's the only one who I feel understands even a little of what's going on here. I need her."

"Yeah," Sonny looked to the door. "They have a half hour. Are you hungry?"

"I'm…" Sam shot in him an incredulous look. "Am I hungry? Emily's been kidnapped and your asking me if I'm hungry—Do you always want to feed everyone?"

"Most people don't eat well on their own and I need something to take—"

"Got her," Lucky came shooting through the door with Spinelli hot on his heels. "She's in the second place, the one on the east side of the woods and it has pretty good security, but Spinelli believes that if he can get close enough to it then he should be able to shut it down and pinpoint her location."

Sonny looked down at his watch and shook his head, "You've been gone less than five minutes."

Lucky smiled, "The kid is good."

"Alright, get two teams together. I still want someone people at that other location just in case. I'll call Jason and let him know what's happening before we leave."

"We?" Lucky turned from the door to look at Sonny. "I thought you decided not to go…?"

"No, you thought I decided not to go. I thought that was easier than arguing with you. Get Max, Milo, Johnny, and Frank. I want them with us; everyone else either needs to be here, at the hospital, or at the other location. I don't want anything else to go wrong while we're getting Emily."

"But…"

"Now."

Lucky shook his head and left to get the men ready. He figured just doing what he was told this time was easier than arguing and, hopefully, Sonny wouldn't be any more distracted than Jason would have been.

Sam watched Lucky leave and then turned to Sonny and said, "I'm going with you."

"No you aren't."

"Either I can go with you or I can follow you. Your choice. I know how to handle myself, I learned to use a gun at the age of nine, believe me, I'll be an asset to you in this situation."

Sonny looked over at her and realized, just as Lucky had seconds before, that arguing was going to take more time then actually just letting her go along with them. "Fine. I need to call Jason."

"Do I get a gun?"

Both Sonny and Sam turned to Spinelli and said, "No."

Sonny turned away from the two of them, picked up his cell phone and called Jason.

"_Morgan."_

"Hey," Sonny turned back toward the door when Lucky and Max came through it. "We found her."

"_Good…"_

Sonny heard the concern in his friend's voice and scrubbed his hand over his face, "Stop thinking what you're thinking. You can't be in two places at once. Lucky and I will get Emily and bring her straight to the hospital to see you, no matter what. We'll want her checked out anyway and since the police already know what's happening we might as well just deal with the fallout out. How's Brenda doing?"

"_Good. Good. They say she's just resting. Her heart rate is good; everything is good with her and the baby. They want to do something called an amniocentesis, but I don't want to say yes until she's awake."_

"Okay. And the Quartermaines…? Are they bothering you?"

"_No. They're busy answering Mac's questions and Ned told them that the needed to back off until Brenda was awake. After that they'll be worried about her health so…"_

"Yeah. So. Hopefully Emily and I will be there soon," Sonny looked over to Lucky who was giving him the okay sign. "We're about to go. I'll let you know as soon as we have her."

"_Okay. Sonny…"_

"Yeah."

"_Take care of my little sister."_

"Always."

Sonny hung up and turned to Lucky, "Are we ready?"

"Yeah, but I still don't think you should go."

"Good to know," Sonny turned to Spinelli. "Are you ready kid?"

"Yes, Mr. Don of Port Charles Corinthos Sir."

"Yeah," Sonny grabbed Sam's jacket and threw it to her. "Make him stop that."

Sam laughed as they walked out the door and fifteen minutes later they were stopped in two cars about a mile away from the property where Emily was being held and Spinelli was working on taking down their security without them knowing it.

"How much longer," Lucky asked as he turned from the driver seat to look at Spinelli in the back pounding away on the computer keys.

"Hey Fluky," Spinelli looked up from the screen, "this isn't like walking and chewing gum at the same time. It takes concentration, now if you could please leave the Jackal to work then maybe I'd be able to finish this."

Lucky rolled his eyes and shot a look at Sonny who only shook his head and sat back in his seat. He didn't care what the kid said or who he said it too as long as his computer skills were good enough to get them to Emily without her getting hurt.

"Gotcha!" Spinelli threw up his hands and smiled at Lucky and Sonny who turned to him from the front seat. "Your way is clear. You have to go in the front door and if you move back through the house you will see a door or entryway—I can't tell from this which it is—that will lead to a basement-like area. If you go down the stairs and to the back of the basement there should be another door and you have to follow that back as far as it goes, which isn't far, and she is in the room at the end of that hall. There are surveillance camera's set up everywhere, but I essentially have them frozen. Here's the problem though," Spinelli turned the computer and pointed to the screen. "I don't see that many people inside. There is one person in the room next to where Emily is being held and three in the house, but that's all. I can pick up heat signatures from their own surveillance system, but if they know that their system is breachable then they may have found some way to hide their heat signatures or something."

Sonny shot and impressed look at Spinelli and then turned to Lucky, "What do you think?"

"I think he makes a lot more sense when he's talking about stuff like this and," Lucky pushed forward as Sonny shot him an annoyed look. "I think we should send her to the door first," he nodded back at Sam who was sitting next to Spinelli. "And we'll go in after her. If there really are only three of them in the house then either they are expecting us or their boss has left them as a sacrifice. Either way, they aren't gonna be expecting some hot chick coming to the door to be working for us."

"Hot chick," Sam smiled from the back seat.

"Don't be too flattered, I've got a girl. I've just got eyes too."

"Whatever."

"Here's what we'll do," Sonny turned so he could face both Sam and Lucky. "He's right we need to send you to the door first. Max will go in with us and Milo and Frank will stay out here and keep the cars ready. Sam, you go in first, and take down whoever comes to the door and Lucky will come in after you. We'll handle whoever is in the house and then we'll move down to get Emily. I don't want any of us going into the basement without back up, we don't know if they've got more people down there than we can see. Once the house his clear, we get Emily and get back to the cars. Sam and Max will come back to this car with Frank and Spinelli and you'll go straight back to the penthouse. Lucky, Emily, and I will get in the car with Milo and head straight of the hospital. Any questions?"

"What about the police?"

"Not a problem," Spinelli spoke up from the backseat. "They don't know about this place yet?"

"How do you know?"

"I hacked in their system, its pretty good actually, everything is digital. But they don't have enough information yet. They are still waiting on a warrant to search through all of Sorel's properties and accounts from his death. They've got nothing, especially since the widow Sorel hasn't been very cooperative."

"Okay," Lucky smiled at Sonny. "We should keep him."

"Whatever," Sonny turned to Sam. "Are you ready?"

"Absolutely."

As Sam walked up to the door she looked to left of the house and saw Sonny and to the right she saw Max and Lucky, all three ready to come to her defense if she needed, and she wanted to laugh. Of course these men had not known her for very long, but if they had then they would have known that she could handle three guys in a house on her own without breaking a sweat…but this was their rescue operation so she was willing to follow their rules. She reached up and knocked on the door and when a man answered she smiled up at him, tossed her hair, and pointed nervously down the road, "Hey, uh, sorry to bother you. It's just that, well, I ran out of gas. I know, I know, it's stupid, my ex used to yell at me all the time for this sort of thing, but…well he's not around to remind me and I was just wondering if I could use your phone or, better yet, if you could give me a ride to the nearest gas station. That would be great."

"Uh," the man looked back into the house and pulled the door nearly closed so that his companions could not see who he was talking to. "I don't think…"

"Oh," she rested her hand on his arm and forced her eyes to water. "Please don't leave me out here alone. I haven't seen another house for miles. Please. I'll do anything, if you just help me out." She raised her voice a little louder hoping to get him to come out of the house.

"Okay, okay, just…" he turned back around to look into the house and then walked outside and shut the door closed behind him. "Where are you—"

As he stepped outside she stepped back and pretended to trip and when he leaned over to help her she brought her knee up to his chin with as much force as she could and knocked him out.

"Okay," Lucky came from around the corner and looked at the man on the ground. "Good job."

Sonny lightly turned the knob on the front door and smiled inwardly as it opened. He looked back at his three companions and said, "Two more."

The three of them walked into the house and immediately heard a voice from the next room yell, "Hey Tony, who was at the door?"

Sonny walked into the room where he heard the voice coming from and as soon as he turned the corner the man looked at him and started to raise his gun, before he was even able to get one shot off Sonny raised his gun, with a silencer on the barrel, and fired, shooting the man square in the chest and killing him. He turned back around and said to Lucky, "You're with me and we're going for Emily. Sam and Max, find the other guy in the house and make sure there is no one else here."

Lucky and Sonny made their way into the basement of the house and immediately saw the door on what should have been the back wall, right where Spinelli said it would be. They walked through it and down a dark hall that had three exposed bulbs hanging from the ceiling. They reached the end of the hallway and to the left and the right there were doors. Sonny motioned for Lucky to go through the door where they believed Emily was, after he went through the other one. After he opened the door he saw a man standing in front of a two way mirror watching Emily.

"The bosses left," the man said without turning around to see who had joined him in the room. "God if we hadn't been ordered not too I'd pull her down off of that thing, I'd show her what a real man can do." Just as he was about to turn he saw the door to the other room opened and a man he didn't recognize walk through it, but before he could make a move his head was slammed into the mirror in front of him, knocking him out. Sonny stood over the man and though he had ordered as little bloodshed as possible he aimed his gun and fired into both shoulders. Either he would bleed to death on the floor or wake up in excruciating pain, Sonny didn't care which.

Lucky walked through the door to the room that Emily was being kept in and the only things that stopped him from receiving a well placed kick in the face were Emily's reflexes and his own self preservation skills. He ducked just as she swung her legs a little higher than she needed to.

"Sorry," she looked down at him sheepishly.

"Oh, don't worry about it. All the women I know try to knock my head off when I walk into a room. I take it as a compliment."

"I thought you were a bad guy. I figured you guys wouldn't be here for at least a half-hour or forty-five minutes longer."

"Well, we're early."

"Yeah," she finally allowed herself to hang from the cuffs that were holding her to the pipe above her, "could you get me out of these?" She shook her hands a little.

"Uh…" Lucky trailed off and looked around the room for something he could stand on, "Hold on."

Emily rolled her eyes as Lucky left the room and let the door close behind him.

When Lucky walked out he nearly ran into Sonny who was holding a chair and the keys to the cuffs, "Well, okay, fine, you get to be the hero."

Sonny said nothing as he walked into the room with Lucky following closely behind him. He sat the chair down below her and threw the keys to Lucky before going back to the door to make sure that no one was coming.

Lucky hopped up onto the chair, reached up, and uncuffed Emily from the beam. She nearly fell in to his arms and he carefully lowered her to the ground thinking she would be fine, but she immediately sunk to the floor and glared up at him, "I've be hanging from the ceiling you idiot."

"Yeah," he bent down and pulled her into his arms. "Sorry about that." He turned to Sonny and nodded his head and the three of them, with Emily in Lucky's arms, made their way down the hall, into the basement, up the stairs and into the main part of the house.

"Bad guys are dead," Sam said as the three of them came through the door. "Max went back to the car to make sure the cops aren't coming."

"Alright, let's get out of here."

Lucky hefted Emily up to make sure he had a good grip on her and turned to Sonny, "Should we like burn the place down or something?"

"No," Emily said over Lucky's shoulder as she tried to get Sonny's attention even though he seemed to be ignoring her. "We can't. They took blood or something from me, I don't know why, but I don't want this place burned down before I know."

"The police could come and find our prints everywhere."

"Let them," Sonny slammed to door closed and stepped over the man who was still passed out on the porch. "We'll tell them we were out looking for Emily, found this place, and our phones weren't working so we did what we had to do. We'll deal with the fallout later. I'm not worried about it."

"Oh well," Lucky blew a piece of Emily's hair out of his face, "as long as you aren't worried about it. God," he hefted Emily one more time. "How the hell much do you weigh?"

She said nothing as she stared over his shoulder to look at Sonny who still would not meet her eyes. Three of them, Sam, Sonny, and Emily, spent the rest of the walk to the car listening to Lucky complain about how much Emily weighed and why he had to be the one to carry her and whatever else he could think of.

When they finally got to the cars, Sam jumped into the one holding Spinelli and Max already and they took off towards the penthouse as Sonny got into the front seat of the second car and Lucky placed Emily in the back. As he walked around to the other side he noticed Emily's head slump to the side and he hurried up around the back and yanked his door opened as he reached across to tip her head back, "Emily. Em, sweetie, wake up! Emily! Milo," he jumped in the back seat and slammed the door closed behind him. "Hospital! Now!" He turned Emily so her head was resting in his lap, shot Sonny an annoyed look and said, "If something happens to her you are gonna feel like shit for not saying how happy you are that she's alive."

Neither man said another thing to each other as Milo sped to General Hospital.

* * *

"So…" Emily looked up at the doctor standing over her and gave him a winning smile. "What's the verdict? Am I gonna live?"

"Yes," the doctor shot her a worried look, "you'll live, but you aren't in great shape. Both of your shoulders were dislocated and the previous gun-shot wound made the damage in the right shoulder worse so you're going to have to wear a sling on that arm for a little while, you are covered in bruises, but they should heal fine. I want you up and walking around in the next hour and I want you to stay overnight so I can monitor your circulation. Other than that, you're lucky, there isn't too much damage."

_Isn't too much damage, _she thought sarcastically and said, "Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me yet, there isn't anything I can do to keep your family out of here and I am willing to bet that either your mother or father has taken a good look at your medical record so they will know about the damage that you suffered from this last incident and they will know about the gunshot wound. And no," he cut off the protest he could shimmering in her brown eyes, "I will not put a no visitors order in your chart. I like my job too much and your parents can make my life a living hell. Sorry." He gave her hand a quick squeeze and then walked out of the hospital room, leaving her alone.

"Great."

"What's great," Jason asked as he walked into the room.

"Nothing." She sat back in the bed and said, "How's Brenda? They kicked Sonny and Lucky out of the room as soon as they brought me in and I haven't been able to get anyone else to tell me. Is she alright…Is the baby…?"

"They're both fine." Jason leaned over the bed and moved a stray strand of hair out of her face. "She woke up about a half hour ago and has been asking about you. Gia is with her right now and, I'm sure, as soon as the doctor gives her the okay she will be in here. How are you?"

"Eh," she shrugged. "The doctor says I'll live, but it doesn't really feel like it right now. I feel like I've been hanging from a ceiling for a couple of hours and I'm pretty sure that someone dropped me on my head or something. Probably Lucky."

Jason laughed and pulled a chair over, "What do you remember?"

"Uh," she rubbed her forehead. "Not much. Brenda and I were on our way to visit grandmother and the driver stopped, there was smoke or something coming out of the vents and I think I saw someone open one of the car doors, but I'm not sure. Next thing I knew I was hanging from a ceiling by my wrists, I tried to stay awake and keep my adrenaline pumping, but I was losing steam and then Lucky came in with Sonny. We got out of there, Lucky was complaining about my weight and that's it…Am I missing anything?"

"I don't know. Lucky said you wouldn't let them burn down the house they found you in, something about them taking your blood. Do you remember that?"

"No, not really. I mean I remember telling Lucky that and about waking up with a pain in my arm, but I don't remember them taking blood. Why would they do that?" She shook her head and Jason was about to tell her that he didn't know until he realized she was asking herself and not him. "Maybe…maybe to be sure that I am my mother's daughter. I mean at this point they can't know for sure, can they?"

"Maybe."

"But that would mean they have a blood sample from my mother. How long does that sort of thing last?"

"I don't know. I'll check it out. Are you sure they took something out and didn't put something in…?"

"No, I'm not, but if that's what I said to Lucky and Sonny then maybe I remembered more then. Do you know if they took blood when I was brought in?"

"Yeah. Brenda too."

"Well I guess we'll find out, but I don't feel different so I don't think it was anything too dangerous. Maybe just something to keep me out of it."

"Maybe."

"You keep saying that," she heaved out a breath. "Do you know something I don't? You sound worried."

"No. No. I just…I can't figure out why they would kidnap you and take you to a place they knew we would find only to do some blood tests."

"Maybe it wasn't just blood tests." Jason shot her a questioning look and she continued on, "I'm not sure how much of what I remember is true, but I remember being in that room and feeling like I was being studied, you know? Not just watched. I felt like someone was gauging my actions and my reactions. The only reason I'm bringing this up is because it's what the feds used to do, especially in the beginning when Tommy started working with me. They'd leave me in a room to figure out these puzzles or he and I would be training and I could feel their eyes on my, gauging my abilities. That's what it felt like."

"Maybe that's just what they were doing. Trying to figure out if you're just Emily Quartermaine who lost her memory or if there is something more going on with you…"

"Maybe," she smiled up at him. "I just…it felt familiar, but I can't quite pinpoint how or why. Does that make sense?"

"Again," he grinned at her and took her hand in his, "maybe. But if you think there was something else going on then there was something else going on. For right now the doctor says you need to rest and then after that we'll look into it. Okay?"

She closed her eyes against the headache that was forming behind them and nodded, "Okay. Hey. Where is Sonny?"

"He's, uh, he's outside. You wanna talk to him?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess. Is he mad at me for something?"

"No," he shook his head and brought her hand up to his lips and gave her knuckles a quick kiss. "I'll send him in."

"Okay. Good." She watched as he left the room and waited patiently for what she figured was about three minutes before deciding that Jason wasn't able to talk Sonny into seeing her. She wasn't sure what she had done to anger him and with the pain throbbing in her head she didn't really care to try and figure it out so she finally just closed her eyes against the pain and tried to block everything out.

Sonny stepped into the room and saw Emily lying on the bed with her eyes closed, she looked as peaceful as he'd seen her since she came back into his life and he didn't want to wake her so he started to turn back around and leave.

"I can feel you in here," Emily kept her eyes closed, but he could see the ghost of a smile on her lips. "Don't leave."

"I thought you were sleeping."

"Nope, meditating. Tommy says—said that it's as good as sleeping, sometimes better." Her eyes fluttered open and she cocked her head to the side to stare at him. "Why are you mad at me?"

Sonny heaved out a breath, scrubbed his hands across his face, and sat down in the chair that Jason had pulled over to the bed, "I'm not."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Hey," she reached out for his hands, but pulled back when she realized he wasn't receptive to the idea. "Just tell me. I can take it. What? You don't like me anymore. I get it…I mean I know I have a tendency to piss people off, believe me I know, but I'm not sure what I did to piss you off. I mean obviously I did something and that's fine, but can't you just tell me what it was at least? Don't you owe me that?"

"You didn't do anything to piss me off." This time he reached out for her hand and took it in his own. "I was—am just worried about you. I'd finally stopped thinking about you as someone who I had to protect from me, from my lifestyle. I figured you could handle yourself and then…"

"And then I go and prove you wrong by not only getting myself kidnapped, but not protecting Brenda."

"No! No that's not it," he brought their joined hands up, rested his forehead against them, and closed his eyes. "I should have been more careful. You and Brenda together should have had more than one guard, there should have been another car with you especially with everything that's going on, but I just didn't think. It's my fault."

"Is that what this is about? You think it's your fault?"

"I wasn't thinking clearly. I haven't been. I sent you two out nearly alone, I haven't kept enough guards on you, I went with Lucky to find you today after he told me, and he was right, that I shouldn't because it was too dangerous. I'm not…Right now the biggest danger to you is me."

"Let me get this straight," she sat up in the bed and shoved his hands away when he tried to help her. "This is entirely your fault because instead of treating me like some idiot who doesn't know how to protect herself you're treating me like a women who has been trained to do exactly that? How does that work?"

"I forgot that being with me makes you a target. I forgot that you needed to be protected. I allowed you and Brenda to leave today and sent you off with only her guards and none for you."

"You allowed…? I don't know who the hell you think I am Sonny, but you didn't allow anything. I'm not thirteen-years-old. Nobody allows me."

"Really?" He shot up from his seat and walked over to the window before turning back to her. "Nikolai didn't allow you to live. He didn't allow you to be found easily. He didn't allow you to come back to us in one piece? You were shot not too long ago, you just lost a friend, and your running around acting like none of that has any affect on you and what's worse is that I'm letting you."

She rolled her eyes at him and scoffed, "I'm gonna act like what you just said was said out of grief and worry and not because you really believe it. Okay?"

"No. You're gonna listen to me this time. We've had this argument before and you always win it, but this time you are going to take my side into account and if you won't hear it from me I'll call Jason back in and you can hear it from him or Lucky or Lorenzo, I don't care who, but you are going to listen—"

"Is that what this is," she cut him off. "The four of you have gotten together and decided what's best for me? One bad thing happens, I make one mistake, and the men-folk get together and figure what needs to be done to protect me? Bullshit."

"One mistake? You've been shot, you got in a gun fight outside a club in someone else's territory, you've been kidnapped, your strongest connection to the FBI was killed and we still haven't been able to figure out exactly what's going on here and you're saying that only one mistake has been made here? The fact of the matter is this: You aren't safe in Port Charles and more than that we can't figure out exactly what's going on with you here. Nikolai is too focused on you, and your brother and I are too focused on what's going on in your life and with your father. No one, including you, can concentrate."

"Wait a second. What are we talking about here? Are you thinking about trying to tuck me away until all of this is over? Is that what this is about? You drew the short straw so the boys made you come in here and give me that bad news…" she trailed off and turned her head away from him so that he couldn't see the tears streaming down her face. It was embarrassing enough that her voice had cracked more than a few times; she didn't need him thinking that she was using her tears to get to him.

"No," he reached out and tried to get her to turn her head back to him and when she wouldn't he walked around to the other side of the bed and took her face in his hands. "Listen, that's not what's happening here. You're not healthy right now baby, you know that as well as we do and you can't really focus with all the other stuff that's going on in your life. We talked to Tony and Demetri and together we all put in a request to have the next summit meeting moved back a couple of weeks and to Alcazar's territory instead of Nikolia's. The first half was approved and the second denied so we'll have the meeting in Russia at Nikolai's in three weeks. Until then we want you to go down there with Lorenzo and get all the information you can about Nikolai. And you can spend time with Alcazar and his family, rest up and hopefully figure out what's going on in your life. And while you're down there we'll work up here to get proof about who kidnapped you and what they want and in two weeks Jason, Lucky, and I will come down there and we'll put all our information together and…"

"You're sending me away." She closed her eyes against the pain, against the look of desperation in his. He wanted go get rid of her. "All the work I've done. Everything I've figured out in the last four years and you're sending me away at the end of it. And of course with you and Jason and Lucky and him, my so-called biological father, all agreeing I can't exactly fight you, can I? I mean who else is there? It's not like I can go to Monica and Alan and say, 'Hey I need someone on my side right now so could you please tell them not to send me away so I can keep playing mobster,' I'm sure they'd just love that."

"That's not…" He brushed the tears from her eyes. "You'll be there for the end, in two weeks we'll come down to get you and then after that we'll all go to Russia together. We're not…"

"Don't," she pulled away from him. "You want me gone, I get that. I've known from the beginning that you aren't big on keeping your girlfriends around forever and of course Lucky and Jason want me protected. So when do I leave?"

"Em, sweetheart…"

"When do I leave?"

He shook his head and stepped away from her, "Tommorow. I'm sure you'll want to talk to Brenda and Gia before you go and even though it's only for a little while Bella and Michael will want to say goodbye, they've been worried about you. Anyone else you want to talk to Milo and Max will take you to them and then the Alcazar jet will fly you to Venezuela at seven tomorrow night. Lucky and Jason and…" He shook his head. "Lucky and Jason will see you off; we don't want anyone else knowing when you leave."

"Great. Any way I can get out of here tonight?"

"The doctor said you need to stay for observation."

"I'm also gonna need to pack and I'll spend tonight with Bella, we'll do a sleepover thing in her room or something, I don't want her last memory of me to be just a goodbye."

He wanted to tell her that she'd see Bella again, when she came home, when they were back together, when everything was safe, but he couldn't make the words come out of his mouth. If everything they'd gone through wasn't enough, if every exception he'd already made for her didn't tell her how he felt then nothing would. And he sure as hell wasn't about to spend the rest of his life trying to be something he wasn't. Not for her, not for them, not for anything. "That's fine. I'll be with Lucky tonight anyway, working on a few things. Sam is moving in with Alexis and her friend Spinelli, the computer kid, is going to stay in the guestroom at our—at the penthouse while we need him, so he'll be there tonight."

"Great. Do you mind if I ask him to look up a few things for me?" She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and turned to see him standing at the end of her bed. If he could be all business-like and casual then so could she.

"Sure. I'm going to go talk to the doctor. I'll send Lucky in…"

"No, there's no need. Just…I'll see him later. I just want to rest right now."

"Fine." He started to leave and then turned back around to her and said, "If you want to be mad then be mad at me. Don't take it out on Lucky and don't let it stop you from doing what you need to do in Venezuela. Just take this time and…just think for a while okay. Think about what you want. I'll do the same."

"Great." She watched him leave the room and wanted to break down and cry. It would be easier that way, easier if she could just make all the hurt and the pain and the anger come out in the tears that had been choking her for weeks, but like so many times before she couldn't forced them to come, not even when she needed them so badly. She'd spent so much time trying to shove any and all pain down as far as it would go that now she couldn't force it to the surface even when she needed to the most. Even when her chest hurt so badly that she felt like she was dying and her breath was heaving from her body like she was having an asthma attack.

He wanted her gone and now she was leaving, it didn't matter that they'd be together in two weeks, he'd finally realized that she wasn't as tough and strong as she pretended to be and he wanted to get her as far away as quick as possible and then we he needed her again he'd be back. It was funny really, that philosophy was almost the exact same one she'd gone into this situation using on him. God how it hurt to have it turned back on her and she didn't even have anyone to stand by her, to remind her of how far she'd come on her own. She knew, as much as she hated it, she knew that Tommy would have agreed with them, he would have carefully set her down and explained all the pros of sending her away and she would have been angry, but coming from him, from the one person who had seen each drop of blood she shed and each false lead she'd chased down, it would have been okay. But to be standing at the end of the road and have Sonny shove her aside under the guise of wanting to protect her, that was almost more than she could handle and having Lucky and Jason on his side only turned the knife deeper in her back. But almost was not all and if they wanted her gone for a few weeks then she would oblige them and after everything was said and done she'd owe them nothing and they'd owe her nothing and she could finally live her life on her own terms.

The only question was how much of the life she had built would be left for her to live when she was ready for it. And would what was left really be worth living?

* * *

Authors Note: Okay, as far as Spinelli is concerned, I know he's a little more, I guess, knowledgable sounding in this story than he is on the show. I sort of did that on purpose, because you have to remember that my Spinelli has been hanging around Sam for quite some time now and he has picked up on a few things. So yeah, review readers…review…


	24. Chapter TwentyFour

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will!

* * *

"Emily," Johnny opened the door and blocked the person standing behind him to keep them from coming in. "Ms. Webber here to see you."

"Uh," Emily looked around the penthouse at the suitcases and the blankets from her campout with Michael and Bella and shook her head. "Just send her in."

"Okay. Brenda said to tell you that she and Gia will be over soon and she wanted to know if you wanted her to wake up Michael and Bella to say goodbye."

Emily looked down at her watch and grimaced, it was one o'clock, she'd had the kids up until nearly nine in the morning and then they'd only slept until eleven so that she could take them out for breakfast, "No…no, we said our goodbye's last night. Tell her to let them sleep."

"Alright."

Emily leaned back against one of her suitcases as Liz stepped through the door and Johnny closed it behind her.

"Uh, hi," Liz cautiously looked around the room and then finally let her eyes settle on Emily.

"Hi. What's up?"

"Nothing. Are you—are you going somewhere?"

Emily let out an abrupt, humorless laughed that caused Liz to jump, "Yeah. Vacation."

"Oh. You and Sonny?"

"Not exactly."

"You don't sound happy about that."

"I just need to get away for a little while; it's been a lot to deal with," she lied, "losing my memory, finding Sonny, coming home, and my family. I know everyone thinks that I had a four year vacation, but I didn't really so I decided to take one now that everything is a little more settled. I'll be gone for three or four weeks." Emily adjusted her sling and pushed off the suitcase she had been leaning on. She walked around to the couch and heaved the lighter suitcase off of it with her good arm. "Wanna sit?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Both women cautiously moved around each other and sat down on the couch.

"So…what are you doing here Liz?"

"I'm, uh, not exactly sure. I heard you were taken to the hospital last night and I wanted to see how you were doing. Grams said you left against medical advice and I was just…I just wanted to be sure you were okay."

"I'm fine. Just not really big on hospitals right now, that's all."

"So what happened?"

"I fell."

"And dislocated both shoulders and bruised up your body?"

"Okay, you got me. Sonny beat the shit out of me," Emily waited a beat and shook her head. "What do you want me to say here, Liz?"

"I don't know," Liz looked over at her, obvious shock registering on her face. Emily realized that Liz had probably never heard her talk that way. "Is that the truth, did Sonny beat you?"

Emily narrowed her eyes at her friend and shook her head, "No actually it was some guy who was obsessed with my mother years ago, her stepbrother actually."

"Oh." They both ignored how easily Liz accepted that response. "So are you and Sonny still together or…"

"Is that what this is about? Did you come here on your own or did you fiancé send you?"

"I came on my own. Ric doesn't know I'm here."

"Uh oh, will he beat you when he finds out?"

"What? No, of course not why would you…" Liz trailed off and remembered her previous comment. "I was just responding to something you said Emily. I didn't bring up Sonny hitting you."

"No, but you sure did jump to believe it. Why is that? Last I remember you liked Sonny. I mean you weren't like paling around town or anything, but you certainly wouldn't have accused him of being abusive and more than that you wouldn't have, even for a second, believed that Jason would allow me to be with a man who is abusive."

"Things change."

"Boy do they. So what's the deal here? How much are we willing to tell each other? Like, for example, should I tell you what I know about Trevor Lansing? And, for example, will you tell me why your husband wants Sonny to suffer so badly?"

"He's the district attorney Emily, Sonny is a criminal."

"Right," Emily said the word nearly under her breath, but loud enough for Liz to hear, "then we put up fronts. I'm used to that by now."

"I didn't mean…"

"So where did you two meet? You and Ric?"

"Nikolas didn't tell you?" Shock clearly registered on Liz's face and Emily wondered what, exactly, Nikolas had left out about the end of his relationship with Liz.

"Nope. We haven't had much time to talk lately. We've both had some interesting family developments come up."

"Right. Ric was working for the Cassadine's when I lost the baby, he was there for me."

"And Nikolas wasn't?"

"He didn't even blame her!" Liz shook her head, and took two calming breaths to settle down. "That crazy bitch pushed me down the stairs and caused me to miscarry our child and he did nothing about it. What do you call that?"

"I don't know, but I'd be pretty pissed about it too. That doesn't sound like Nikolas."

"Well," Liz settled back into the couch, relieved that she didn't have to defend her position to Emily, "that's what happened. I was there."

"Okay. You were there. So Ric was doing business for the Cassadine's. How'd he go from that to becoming the district attorney of Port Charles?"

"He was working for his father then, he isn't anymore."

"Listen, uh," Emily fidgeted with her fingers and shook her head. This was exactly what she'd argued with Sonny about the day before, but she still couldn't change her feelings, she wasn't willing to milk one of her friends for information. That just wasn't a line she could cross, "maybe we should talk about something else. I have a feeling the Lansing men are going to be dangerous territory for the two of us and I just don't have the energy for it right now. Okay."

"Alright, what would you like to talk about?"

"You came to see me Liz. Why?"

"I guess I just wanted to see."

"Wanted to see what?"

"If…" she hesitated and stared over Emily's shoulder, at the fireplace. "If you'd changed."

"I've been gone for four years, of course I've changed and so have you. So have Lucky and Nikolas and everyone else. You didn't want to see if I changed, you wanted to see what about me changed." She let out a quick breath and rolled her eyes. "I wonder…"

"What?"

"When this is all said and done, if this is ever all said and done, if we'll be able to be in a room together and actually tell each other the truth. You know you were my first real female friend and I will always remember that, but I don't think that memory is going to sustain us through what's about to happen. What do you think?"

"I don't know. I guess it depends."

"On what? On whether I will chose what I know about Sonny over whatever your fiancé thinks he does? On whether I'm a good guy or a bad guy? On what Liz? Cause if you want the truth then yeah, I'm gonna chose Sonny and I don't know if I'm a good guy or a bad guy. I guess it depends on the day of the week and the situation and, if you want the truth, most days in most situations I'm betting someone like you would see me as the bad guy."

"Someone like me," Liz lifted her hands in defense. "Someone who believes in the law? You used to be someone like me Emily."

"I know I was. Believe me, I know, that's why I can't blame you for anything you're thinking about me right now. That's why I hope that I'm wrong about Trevor Lansing and his son and they aren't as dead set on revenge as I think they are, because honestly Liz I don't want us to be enemies. Maybe we won't ever be best friends again, but I'm not sure if I could really stand to be your enemy."

"Me either."

"Hold on," Emily jumped up from the couch and hurried into the kitchen.

Liz watched her go, confusion etched on her face, and she nearly jumped up off the couch when the door to the penthouse was thrown opened and Sonny walked through it. She shot him a looked and then absently pointed to the kitchen, "I, uh, came to see Emily."

"Fine." Sonny yanked opened one of his desk drawers and searched for papers while Liz stared at him and that was the exact scene Emily walked back in on, Sonny scavenging through drawers and Liz trying her best not to gape at him. She nearly dropped the two brownies in her hands and stared between the two of them.

"Are you looking for something?" She sat the brownies down on the dining room table and walked over to Sonny.

"Payroll."

"It's, uh, it's upstairs."

Sonny whipped around and stared at her, "What is it doing there?"

"I told you before—I told you that I'd do them, didn't I?"

"I thought…" Sonny looked between Liz and Emily and shook his head. "Where?"

Emily shrugged, "In the top drawer of the bedside table. I sort of gave the kids the run of the penthouse last night and I didn't want them ruined."

"Alright," Sonny nodded to Liz and then jogged upstairs to get his payroll papers.

"He seemed…annoyed."

Emily smiled over at Liz and nodded, "Yeah, I have a tendency to bring that particular emotion out in him."

"Oh."

Emily shook her head and picked the brownies up off the dining room table, she handed one to Liz and took another for herself. "Here, one last brownie toast, for the road. Hopefully we'll remember this when it counts."

"Okay," Liz took the brownie and smiled up at Emily. "What do we toast to?"

"I don't know…friendship?"

"How about lasting friendships and being there for each other when we really, really need it."

"That works for me," Emily took her brownie, tapped it against Liz's and smiled before taking a bite out of it. The each ate in companionable silence and smiled at each other.

"Well," Liz brushed the crumbs off of her lap and stood up, "I should get going."

"Yeah, I still need to go see the Quartermaines today anyway." Emily grinned at her friend and walked her to the door. "So what does this mean? We won't, like, try to kill each other or anything?"

Liz smiled as she reached for the door handle, "How about we just stick with trying to see each other's points of view before we, you know, turn on each other outright."

"Yeah," Emily nodded thoughtfully. "Cool."

Both women smiled at each other before Liz walked out of the penthouse and away from Emily.

"So…" Sonny stood at the top of the stairs and looked down at her, "what did she want?"

"I think…" she turned around and stared at him. "I think she just wanted to say goodbye."

"Okay," he jogged back down the stairs with the payroll in his hand and waived it at her. "Thanks for this. I was gonna have Benny do it, but with his daughter having her first kid and all…"

"I know," she nodded and moved to the other side of the couch as he started to walk towards her, "you told me and it wasn't that hard to do anyway. I'm pretty good with numbers, always have been."

"Yeah…" He trailed off, unsure of what, exactly he wanted or needed to say to her. He hadn't spoken to her since the day before when they argued in her hospital room. She'd come home and set up the penthouse for Michael and Bella to have a sleepover/campout with her. After he told both kids goodnight, though apparently they hadn't gone to sleep until hours and hours later, he'd taken Spinelli to his office in the coffee warehouse and the two of them along with Lucky and Jason spent the night there trying to find out as much information about Trevor and Ric Lansing as possible.

He wanted to tell her that he wasn't shipping her off or trying to get rid of her, but he knew better. He knew that nothing he could say or do would change the fact that she felt like she was being left out. Only time and truth would break through her barriers, but he wasn't sure if, after all was said and done, he'd want to be with her any longer. He understood her trust issues, but he also understood his own and if he was willing to put his trust in her then he couldn't understand why should wouldn't do the same for him.

"So…" Emily trailed off also unsure of what to say. Both were saved when Johnny opened to door to the penthouse.

"Brenda and Gia are ready for you," he looked between Sonny and Emily, felt the tension, and decided that giving the message was all he needed to do. "They said they'll be in the garage when you're ready."

"Good. Great. Thanks Johnny." He shut the door and Emily turned to Sonny and said, "Uh, I told them I'd stop by the place they had in mind for the club and then I've gotta stop at the Quartermaines. By the time I'm done there I'll need to be at the airport with Jason and Lucky so…I guess this is it. I'll see you in a few weeks." She shrugged her shoulders and shuffled her feet a little before throwing her purse over her shoulder and starting to walk out.

As she started to walk passed him Sonny reached out and took her hand in his, "Is that all?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "What else is there?"

He shook his head and stared into her eyes, wondering if she really did think that was all they had to say to each other, if that was all she wanted to say to him, "I don't know, Em. How about you'll miss me? I'll miss you. How about you understand that I'm not just trying to ship you away? How about anything other than 'I'll see you in a few weeks.'"

"Well I will and isn't this what you wanted?" She yanked her hand out of his and shoved it through her hair. "You said take this time to think, so that's what I'm going to do. What you expect? Some grand confession of love before I go? I can't give you that."

"No," he blew out a quick breath and rolled his eyes. "I don't know what I expected. I guess goodbye is enough; it worked for you and Liz, right? So bye."

He walked away from her and back up the stairs to their—his, she corrected—bedroom. She wasn't sure why she'd said what she had, or why she'd left out that he was right and she really would miss him. She told herself it was because she'd just lost Tommy and she wasn't ready to trust Sonny not to walk on out her, but that was bull. Normal people weren't supposed to push those they loved away when they were mourning; they were supposed to pull them closer.

"But," Emily said to herself as she reached for the door handle. "I'm not normal."

* * *

"So…" Brenda heaved out a breath and stared at Emily as the two of them and Gia stepped into the warehouse space that they were planning to turn into a club. "What do you think?"

Emily looked around at the busted out windows, the weak beams, and the dusty floor of the warehouse and smiled, "I think it's perfect."

"Really," Gia let out a quick whoop and turned in circles. "That's so cool. I mean I think it looks like shit and I was two seconds away from crying when Brenda showed it to me, but she said you'd see potential and, well, you do. Right?"

"Absolutely." She could all but feel the music pulsing around her. She'd been worried on the ride over, the further and further the moved away from Harborview Towers and their base crowd of hip, affluent doctors and employees of ELQ and Jacks industries, until the car stopped and she realized that not only were they close to their base crowd, but they'd actually managed to be plastered right between the rich, the wealthy, the up-and-comers, and the normal townspeople. "How the hell did you get this place? It's prime real estate. How come no one has snatched it up for apartments or a hotel or whatever?"

Brenda smiled, "Most of the businessmen in this town were too afraid to touch it because if it's closeness to Courtland Street, and no one from Courtland Street could really afford to buy it. Plus, it's one of Sonny and Jason's old properties. They were using it for the coffee business until they moved it all into the one warehouse and neither of them tried too hard to sell."

"How did you get Jason to sell it to us?"

"Sexual favors," Brenda laughed at Emily's scrunched up face. "Plus I promised him that we wouldn't deal with any distributors or contractors that he didn't agree with."

"We were already going to do that."

"What he doesn't know…" As Brenda trailed off Gia grinned and said, "Well, I also happened to mention to Lucky how much closer this would be to the coffee warehouse and their base of operations than another place we were looking at. We both made some noises about wanting to be closer to Deception headquarters than this and they got it into their minds that the closer to them we were to them, the better."

Emily just shook her head, leave it to those two to talk their respective mates into doing exactly what they wanted, "So do we have contractors yet? I'd like to see some possible floor plans, though I do have a few ideas." Emily looked around the place. Yeah, she had a few ideas alright. She could already see a bar spanning nearly the entire length of the wall to the right of her and she had more than a few ideas for the second floor and an office that would overlook the whole club so that the manager, whether that was her or someone else, could watch over the place while still handling whatever business they needed. The second floor would also hold another bar, a VIP conference room—for the boys, and another small dance floor. She could almost see the tables filled with patrons, the bodies writhing, and a DJ or, on special occasions, a live band amping it all up.

"Actually, about that…Gia and I thought that, since this is our vision and all, the three of us would come up with the main floor plan and then see if the contractors could do it. I mean I know we said that this was mostly just a place for us to have Deception parties and a place for the guys to be comfortable, but we want it to be ours too. You know?"

"Yeah, that's good. I agree. I'll work on some stuff while I'm gone and we'll keep in contact. Anything you have in mind you'll send to me and the same goes. Also, I had a little bit of a thought, but I wanted to talk to you two about it first." Both women nodded and Emily continued on. "Well I haven't said anything to her, but Sam mentioned that she worked as manager for a club for a little while and while I'm not sure if I want that job myself, since you two so graciously offered it, I thought that either way Sam could maybe offer a little advice and if we decide that I'm gonna be the manger the two of us could share the job or we could give her something else. What do you guys think?"

"Is she going to stay in town?"

Emily scrunched up her face and shrugged her shoulders at Brenda, "I'm not sure. She's spending a lot of time with Alexis right now and she mentioned wanting to get to know me better so I think, for at least the short term and probably the long term, she'll be here. Either way we'll have her ear for a while and she's got more business experience than I do and since you'll still be at Deception we might need it."

"Okay," Gia jumped between the two of them and grinned, already tired of the business talk, "but I've got one rule that I would like to put into affect right now."

Both Emily and Brenda looked at each other and roll their eyes, "What?"

"No Elizabeth Webber's."

"Fine," Emily said cheekily and shrugged her shoulders. "She'll probably be Elizabeth Lansing by the opening anyway so it won't matter."

"Ugh," Gia half-heartedly pouted, "no fair. Well…if I can't have my way on that then Emily, my darling, you have to tell us about your morning. I mean imagine my surprise when, just as I was peaking my head out the door, Lizzie Webber comes knocking and then after that, purely by coincidence I also happen to be looking out when Sonny comes home and finally when Wittle Wizzie Webber comes back out with…wait for it…" she smiled at Brenda "…no tears streaming down her traitorous little face. Have you calmed in your delicate condition sweetheart?" She pointed to Emily's sling.

"No I haven't calmed, I just don't see any point in attacking defenseless people, especially when they are friends. That's your thing."

Gia made a face and shrugged her shoulders, "That woman is no one's friend. She toyed with Lucky and Jason, screwed over Nikolas, and now she's marrying the enemy. I say we burn her at the stake."

Brenda laughed and shook her head, "Why don't we just ignore her, for the time being. That's better than burning her to death, right?"

"Whatever," Gia rolled her eyes and groaned. "I'm gonna go call Lucky and tell him you like the place," she smiled at Emily, "and I promise not to tell him about Lizzie stopping by."

Emily shook her head and watched Gia go, "You'll think she'll ever get over her hatred of Liz?"

"Probably not. I don't get it and you don't get it, but neither of us were here after you disappeared. From what Gia says Liz was pretty manipulative. Now maybe that's just coming from her insecurities about Lucky or maybe it's because she didn't really like Liz from the moment she met her, I don't know, but even if only half of what Gia says is true then I'd say she's got fairly good reason not to like Liz and it'll only turn out badly if you try and change that."

"I know, I just…I guess I wasn't here and so far I haven't seen anything that makes me want to hate her, you know? I mean I know she screwed over Lucky and Jason and, for that matter, Nikolas but they let it happen. They're big boys. And I know she's engaged to the enemy, but she doesn't think of them that way; all she knows is that he was there for her when her life got tough. I guess…I guess I can't really blame her."

"And maybe you shouldn't. She was your friend Emily, whatever else happens now, she was one of your best friends and if you could just walk away from that then you wouldn't be the person we all love and you're also smart enough to know there are at least two sides to every story. I'm sure there are people out there who think I am horrible for being with Jason or who think Gia is horrible for being with Lucky, but we know them and so we think we're right, there's no reason to assume that Liz feels any differently about Ric Lansing. It's just easier for Gia to hate her on principle, she hasn't been through as much with the people of this town as we have, she hasn't lost as much and she hasn't seen how the good guys turn out to be bad guys and the bad guys turn out to be good ones. That why I love her."

"Yeah," Emily kicked at the ground and smiled, "me too."

"So how about we talk about that other person you love, then?"

"Jason?" Emily smiled and shook her head. "I don't wanna talk about Sonny. Why don't you tell me how you and the baby are doing instead?"

"We're fine. What's going on between you two?"

"I don't know. I'm pissed at him for sending me away right now, and I'm even more pissed that he's sending me to the Alcazar compound. I mean he didn't even have the balls to ask me, he just decided."

"Yeah, and that sucks, but other than that is he really wrong?" Emily shot Brenda an annoyed look and the older woman continued on before she could be interrupted, "Just hear me out. You've been injured more than once, your injured right now, you've got a lot of emotional stuff to deal with and you aren't going to be able to handle any of that stuff if you stay in Port Charles. You can be as pissed as you want to be at me for saying it, but you need a break. Sonny was right about that. And as far as the way he went about it, he's Sonny, I know that's not a good excuse, but it's all I've got and it's all you've got too."

"I don't know. I just thought—I thought he'd come home last night and try to explain or that he'd put some real energy into fighting for me this afternoon, but he didn't. He just let it go."

"And so did you. God, you two are so much alike. You both expect the other to do all the work and take all the risks and if you were with anyone but each other then you might get your way, but the two of you are too much alike."

"Maybe," Emily shook her head and walked towards the door. "We'll see. I've got a couple of weeks to think about it, I guess. But right now I need to get to the Quartermaines to say goodbye before I leave. You wanna come."

"Uh," Brenda tapped the side of her head with her finger and smiled, "let me think about that. Hell no. Have fun." And with that she was walking over to Gia, pulling the other woman into the car and ordering the driver to take them home.

Emily simply smiled after her and shook her head as she walked towards the second car that was sent to give her a ride to her family's house, "Wimp."

* * *

"I will not have this," Edward shook his finger in Emily's general direction and bellowed, "No granddaughter of mine will be spending her vacation on a compound with a mobster. Now Emily sweetheart if you really need a vacation then that's fine, I have a friend in Paris that can take care of you and his grandson will be more than willing to take time out of his busy schedule to show you around. I'm sure that would be more fun than spending time with a man you hardly know on a compound in South America. There are gangs and tribes and _things_ down there, wouldn't you rather a nice relaxing vacation in the South of France instead?"

"No grandfather I wouldn't and my mind is already made up, I just came here so that you all wouldn't worry about me." Emily grinned up at him. _Gangs and tribes and things, _where did he get this stuff?

"Well I think it sounds splendid," Lila smiled at her, "I always wanted to visit South America. Will that darling Mr. Corinthos be going with you?"

"Darling…" Edward trailed off, frowning.

"No grandmother," Emily smiled and hoped it looked genuine, "he's got some business he needs to handle here, but I think he and Jason and Lucky might come down in a few weeks and bring me back."

"Well…" Lila trailed off and toyed with her wedding ring. "That's okay then, I guess. How well do you know Mr. Alcazar and his family?"

"Not very. I honestly only just met him, but he seems…he seems nice and I'm sure I'll be safe with him. I'd like to get to know him better."

"Oh wonderful," Edward threw his hands in the air and groaned. "She's leaving one mobster for another."

"I'm not leaving Sonny for him," Emily scrunched up her face at the thought. "I just…he actually knew my mother. Paige."

Both Lila and Edward sent each other shocked looks when Emily plopped down on the couch and said, "That's one of the reasons I'm going down there. I want to know what she was like when she was younger and he can tell me. I just…please don't be angry with me."

"Why would we be angry with your darling," Lila reached out and took her granddaughters young, smooth hands in her own wrinkled ones. She supposed that with each wrinkle came more and more experience, and she knew that her granddaughter, as capable as she was, did not have the experience yet to deal with some things. "Is there something you aren't telling us?"

Emily blew out a breath and tried to smile, but she couldn't make it reach her eyes or her heart. She hated lying to them. "Actually, yes there is. There are a couple of things I'm not—can't tell you and I'm sorry for that, but I need you to trust me grandmother. I know this man won't hurt me and, well, I think I need to spend time with him. I think he has the answers to some questions I've…I just need to do this and I need you two," she looked between her grandparents, "to make mom and dad okay with it."

"Of course sweetheart, anything you need."

Emily smiled at Lila and then looked to her grandfather, "And what do you say?"

"Oh well," he looked between his granddaughter and his wife, "you know I can't deny either of you anything, but I want one thing in return."

"What?"

"I want you to consider working for ELQ when you come back…"

"Grandfather," Emily interrupted, but Edward just shook his head.

"Just consider," He inclined his head. There was no need to tell her that he would do whatever was in his power to make the consideration an acceptance. "That's all."

"Okay. Just consider," she smiled and shook her head. She didn't want to tell him that she'd already been considering that very idea. She knew that Sonny would make a place for her if she really wanted one, no matter what their relationship was, and she wasn't sure what the Alcazar family might want from her once she spent some time with them, but more and more the simple negotiations and infighting that went on with the Quartermaines and ELQ were becoming appealing.

All three of them looked up as Monica and Alan walked into the living room.

"Well," Alan smiled and leaned down to give Emily a kiss on the cheek. "Isn't this a wonderful surprise?"

"I hope so," Emily smiled up at her father.

"So, to what do we owe the honor?"

"Well…" Emily looked from Alan to Monica and grimaced, she could already see from the look on her mother's face that she was not fooled into thinking this was a simple visit. "Actually I wanted to let you guys know that I am going to be out of town for a few weeks."

"Out of town," Alan sat down beside her, concerned etched on his face. "Is something wrong? Are you in danger? This is because of Corinthos, isn't it? I knew it as soon as I heard you were in the hospital. What has he done?"

"No, it's not because of Sonny as a matter of fact he isn't even going with me. Nothing's wrong. I'm not in danger or anything like that I just—I just need to get away for a little while and I met someone who could help me with that and maybe give me some information about Paige."

"About Paige," Monica sat down in the chair next to the couch and shook her head. "What kind of information?"

"Not much," Emily shot her mother a confused look. _Why was she acting like she knew more than she should? _"He knew her when she was younger."

"Well how did you find him?"

"I didn't," Emily answered her father, but didn't take her eyes off of Monica. "We actually sort of found each other. We, uh, we met through Sonny. Sort of."

"You met a man who knew your mother through Sonny Corinthos," Alan shook his head and turned to his wife, who had not taken her eyes of their daughter. _Something there,_ he thought. _Something to be dealt with later. _"I'm not sure I understand."

"Well, I'm not sure I do either. That's why I have to do this."

"How can we be sure that you'll be safe with this man?"

"I…" She trailed off, unsure of what to say. _Because he's my father_, probably wouldn't go over real well with them. Not this quickly. "Because I'm sure. I don't really remember him, exactly, but I realized I remember her talking about him and I am sure that she would have trusted him."

"It's been quite some time since she knew him," Monica finally spoke.

"Yes," Emily narrowed her eyes at her mother, "but I don't think her feelings about him ever really changed. Nor have his about her. Unless there's something you know that I don't…"

"No," Monica shook her head. "Nothing. I'm sure of it."

"Good, then it's settled. And I need to get going. I promised Jason and Lucky that I'd meet them at the airport before I left and I only have about," she looked down at her watch, "an hour before I need to be on the plane."

"Well," Alan stood up with his daughter and hugged her, "will we be able to reach to?"

"Of course," Emily leaned back and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You have my cell phone number, though I'm not sure how well it will work, but you also have my email address and I will call you as often as possible. As a matter of fact, I will call you every day. As soon as I get there and get settled I'll call and we'll figure out the time difference or whatever and we'll make a plan so that we can talk every day. How's that?"

"I guess it's all I can ask for." Alan gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek and pulled her back into his arms tightly. When she groaned he leaned back and shot her a apologetic look. "Sorry."

"No worries." She dislodged herself from her father's arms and gently rubbed the arm that was in the sling. She leaned over and gave her grandmother a kiss on the cheek and then turned to her grandfather. "I guess you want to hug the life out of me too."

"Of course," he wrapped his arms tightly around her and whispered in her ear, "You know, no matter what, if you need my help I'm only a phone call away."

Emily smiled into his shoulder and let the tears fall quietly down her face, "Of course I know that grandfather. You're just a big, old softie, no matter what anyone else says."

"Only with you my dear, only with you." He kissed her on the cheek and let her go to her mother.

"You promise you'll call," Monica asked.

"Yes," Emily wrapped her good arm around her mother and said in her ear, "and when I come back I would like to know what it is you aren't telling me."

"And the same goes," Monica answered back and brushed Emily's hair off her shoulder.

Emily wanted to be annoyed with her mother as she walked out of the Quartermaine Mansion, but she knew that she really had no right to be. She'd figured that at some point Paige had mentioned Lorenzo Alcazar to Monica in some way, and that was the secret she was keeping. And no matter how angry she wanted to be about that possibility, she could only think of Brenda and Gia and Liz and how she'd do her best to keep any secret they asked her too…or hold any confidence they didn't have the strength to ask her to.

* * *

"So," Lucky walked up to Emily as she stepped out of the car. "Are you looking forward to a week or two without us?"

"Absolutely," Emily smiled. "I've been trying to think of ways to get away from you guys ever since I came back here."

"Figures," Lucky shook his head and then looked at her seriously and said, "You know we really were only thinking of you when we made this decision and in the spirit of full disclosure I should let you know that it was my idea."

"Wha…" Emily looked at him surprised. Annoyance and betrayal warring inside of her.

"You were shot Emily, and then the thing with Tommy and then getting kidnapped. Whatever is going on here, someone has a real hard-on for you and just because they aren't planning on killing you, right now," he emphasized that last two words, "doesn't mean they won't end up doing it on accident and I can stand to lose you right now. None of us can. And more than that, Sonny's right, you need time to think about some of this stuff. Process it. You're not gonna be any good to us or yourself if your brain is clouded with all this information. We need you at the top of your game when this all goes down or else we'll all be left in the dark. You know that."

She kicked at the ground in front of her, "I guess."

"Are you still pissed at Sonny? Now that you know the truth."

"I don't know." She tried to make the shrug look nonchalant, but both of them knew she failed miserably. "He still didn't fight for me to stay."

"No," Lucky shook his head. "He didn't. Even though he wanted you too. Do you know why that is?"

"I don't know…I guess not."

"Because he knows you have to go. He knows you have to deal with this stuff or else you're not ever really going to trust anything or anyone."

Emily blew out a breath and rolled her eyes, "When did you become so damn smart?"

"You'd be amazed the things you realize about human nature when you are trapped in a room alone for an extended period of time."

"No," she grinned. "I wouldn't."

"Yeah, you would. You had something to focus on, a puzzle to figure out. I didn't. I knew who kidnapped me, I knew why, I knew how, and I knew the only way I was getting out was if they let me go. That changes things, trust me."

"So…you really think this whole sending me away thing is a good idea?"

"Yes."

"And Sonny? What do you think about him?"

"I think, and I'll kick your ass if you ever tell Gia I said anything this sappy, that you need to have some time away from each other. You've gotta have some physical space between you and him and then when you come back together you'll know if you should keep going on the track you are."

"God," she laughed, "You did get a lot of insight into the human condition. Tell me, what's the meaning of life?"

"Didn't get that far. However, I do believe that women were put on this Earth to serve men's needs."

"Thank God," she laughed and shook her head. "I was beginning to worry you really were, like, a deep thinker or something."

"Wouldn't want you thinking that," he grinned and hugged her to him. "See ya later, brat."

"See ya, punk." She watched him walk over to the jet she and Alcazar would be flying in and she laughed when he kicked the tires and pull the technician over to talk to him.

"Does he really know anything about how planes run?" Emily grinned at Jason as he turned to look at Lucky.

"No," he answered.

"Didn't think so. So…he told me this was all his idea."

Jason nodded, "He's worried about you."

"And you? What do you think?"

"I'm worried about you too."

"Yeah, me too. But I've spent years worrying about you guys so I guess this is payback, right?"

He smiled, "Maybe."

"So…" she grinned at him mischievously. "What are you hoping for? A boy or a girl?"

"I just want the kid to be healthy, you know. I remember when Michael was born and how he had to stay in the hospital and I just—I don't want that."

"Yeah, but you gotta have a preference. Do you want a little brother for Michael or a little sister?"

"Little sisters are okay," he reached out and pulled her to him so that she was turned to the side and resting against his chest.

"Big brothers are pretty good too," she smiled as she looked at him. "Is this how you felt?"

"About what?"

"After you woke up. You went from not really knowing or trusting anyone to having Robin and Sonny and…"

"You."

"And me, and Carly. Did it feel weird to think that you knew, sort of, where you stood in the world only to keep gaining all these friends and family members that you weren't expecting to?"

"I guess I didn't really think about it, at least not until later. At first it was just about finding people who didn't think I was damaged, or didn't care that I was and then later it became about having people know me and care about what I wanted, and then it came about knowing them and caring what they wanted. The more people I got to know, the more I learned and that was okay with me, but it was hard sometimes, trying to figure out the right thing to say or do for them, for myself. I guess it was different for me because I had nothing to compare it too, but maybe that makes it harder."

"A little. I sometimes feel like I was better off when it was just me and my mom, you know? I knew where we stood, I knew what my job was and the only thing I had to worry about was her. Now there's all this other family and friends and…I don't know, sometimes I think I'm just not equipped to handle this sort of thing. There are too many people to love, too many feelings to take into account and I don't want to hurt anyone, but I know I will."

He kissed her on the top of her head and pulled her a little closer, "You'll figure it all out."

"And if I don't? Will you be there to bail me out?"

"Sure."

"Even if it means being nice to the Quartermaines…?"

"I'll do my best." Jason looked over his shoulder at Lucky arguing with the pilot and shook his head. He couldn't bear to tell her that only days before Lucky had come upon some information that suggested that AJ was looking into Michael's paternity yet again. While the two brothers had never actually been able to repair the damage that was done to their relationship, AJ had stepped back after the paternity test 'proved' that Michael was not his and after Emily disappeared and Brenda reappeared they'd even been able to be civil to one another for the sake of their grandmother and the rest of the family, but if AJ had information that Michael was his biological child then, Jason knew, all hell would soon break loose again and Emily would be trapped right in the middle of it. Worse than that, he wasn't sure, considering the fact that he'd lied to her about her godson's paternity for years, whose side she would come down on this time.

"I know you will," she smiled up at him adoringly and kissed his cheek. "You always do."

"Yeah." He held on to her as Lorenzo Alcazar's car pulled up and the other man exited it.

"Are you ready," Lorenzo asked as he took in the way the two of them were holding on to each other. He wondered, if his son had lived and everything had gone as planned, if Emily would have loved her biological big brother as much as she loved Jason Morgan.

Emily looked over Lorenzo's shoulder and out onto the road, she'd hoped that Sonny would also come to see her off, but as the time came closer and closer for her to leave she realized that it was not going to happen that way. Whether it was because she had pushed to hard or because he wasn't willing to push hard she didn't know, but she did know that one or both of them may have actually done irreparable damage to the foundation of the relationship they were just beginning to stand steady on.

"Yeah," Emily pulled away from Jason a little and smiled up at him. "I guess I am. Are you?"

He grinned and, once again, kissed the top of her head, "I'll see you soon."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise."

"Okay," she finally pulled completely away from him and turned toward the plane. "I guess this is it then." She started to walk away, but before she could she shot one more hopeful look over her shoulder.

"He said to call him from the plane if you want to…"

"Huh," Emily turned back around to Jason. "What?"

"Sonny. He wanted this to be just for me and Lucky, but he said if you wanted to say goodbye you could call him from the plane." Jason didn't mention that was Sonny had actually said was that if she wanted to talk to Bella then she could call from the plane. Despite what everyone thought he was capable of understanding subtext in a conversation.

"Oh. Well then…maybe I will." She shot him one more smile and turned around to make her way to the plane.

"Take care of her."

Lorenzo turned around and looked at the other man, "What?"

"Take care of her. She's not weak, but she not as tough as people sometimes think she is either. This hard for her."

"I will be vigilant of her feelings, don't worry."

"Yeah," Jason said as the other man walked away and Lucky came to stand next to him. "Right."

Both men stood on the tarmac and watched as the plane carrying their little sister and best friend took off for another country.

"She'll be back soon," Lucky padded Jason on the back.

"Yeah, let's make sure we're ready for."

Lucky nodded as Jason walked away. "Back to work we go."


	25. Chapter TwentyFive

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will!

* * *

_He was home, he was angry, and she knew there was nowhere to hide, not really. If momma was home then it would be okay; momma would come and tuck her in and then she and daddy would figure out the problem together. That's what she told herself. Her five-year-old mind had yet to connect the cries and groans of her mother with pain and anguish, not because she wasn't smart, but because it was easier that way. It was easier to think they were doing that thing that adults do when it was night, easier than thinking that he was being mean. That he was hitting momma and making her cry, like he did to her when momma wasn't home. _

_She shook and pushed herself further back into the closet, maybe this time he wouldn't find her there. Maybe he'd stop looking and just go to sleep…maybe. Just this once. _

"_Emmy, sweet Emmy, I know you're in here." He stepped into her bedroom, his voice sounded like it was taunting her from every corner of the small closet she was huddle in. She could hear him right in her ears and feel him crawling up her skin, she could taste the blood that would form in her mouth after the first hit and it scared her. She tried, tried with all her might, to stop herself from shaking, but she just wasn't strong enough. It started with her fingers so she twisted them as tightly as she could around her nightgown, then her stomach muscles cramped and she felt like she was gonna be sick, next was her legs and before she knew it, before she could stop it, they were shaking so bad that she could hear them pounding on the floor even over the sounds of his booted feet. Thump, thump, thump. Thump, thump, thump. Before he even had the chance to open the door there were tears running down her chubby cheeks and settling in the corners of her mouth and the crook of her neck. _

_She felt the whoosh of air as he shoved the closet door open and she could almost feel the hatred radiating off him in waves as he stared down on her shaking body, "I told you I'd find you. I always do. If you weren't so weak and didn't make so much noise you wouldn't have this problem, but you give yourself away every time. Every time."_

_He reached for her and she pulled back, trying shove herself further into the closet, but they both knew it was a futile effort. The closet was small, it housed little girl's clothes and little girl's toys and he was a man, full grown with long arms that could easily reach to the back to snatch out for her and long legs that could easily kick. _

_Kicking was the worst. And with that one thought in her mind she crawled out to him. Maybe if she did what he said it would be easier. She knew, by this point, there was no way to escape the beating, but maybe just maybe she could minimize the pain. _

_As soon as she stood up she saw his foot lift up off the ground and all hope was lost. She didn't feel the boot connect with her stomach, but she felt, right before she passed out, the pain from slamming into the wall radiate from the top of her head, down her neck, and into her toes. _

_She hadn't learned yet that there was no stopping him, no reasoning with him, and certainly no hiding from him. But soon, too soon, she would learn how to push him, how to anger him, how to take him to his breaking point and when that happened he'd hit harder and leave marks and that, that one terrible last beating, would be her salvation…_

He watched her twist, moan, and groan in her sleep and, as a man who had never really been a father and never dealt with the nightmares of his little girl, he had no clue how to respond. He was afraid, maybe most afraid of waking her up and seeing the tears stream down her face, but he couldn't just continue to listen as his little girl—because it was a little girl who cried now, a little girl who curled into the back of her seat, a little girl who groaned—begged for someone to help her.

Even as he reached over to wake her up, she shot up in her seat and stared at him. Through him was more like it, as her eyes never connected with his own, never even really acknowledged his existence. He watched as awareness slowly seeped into her eyes, as her bunched muscles loosened, and as the confusion on her face quickly turned to understanding and then, worst of all, to dismay and shame.

"I, uh, did I say anything...?"

"No."

She blew out a breath and closed her eyes in relief. "Good. I, uh, just have weird dreams sometimes that's all. Always have." She tried to laugh, tried to pretend that he hadn't heard her reliving a horrible memory, but she couldn't.

"Emily…"

"Don't!" She threw her hands up and shook her head. "Just…I can't do this with you. I can't do this with anyone right now, I think that the human mind can only handle so many things at once and this, this might push me overboard so don't ask. Don't give me that sympathetic, worried look. Don't pay extra attention to my sleeping habits and we'll get along just fine."

He shook his head and look down at the leather on the seats. He wanted to agree, wanted to promise that he wouldn't push her further than she was ready to go, but… "I don't think I can make that promise."

"Wha—?" Her mouth dropped and for the first time she looked him in the eyes. "Why?"

He reached out for her hand and then thought better of it when she yanked it back before he even touched her. He should have known better, should have seen that response coming. "I cannot promise you that I won't ask why you shake and cry in your sleep, I will not promise you that I won't worry about your health or watch to be sure you are getting the rest you need; however, I am promising you that I will do my very best not to hurt you more."

Great, just what she needed in her life, another well meaning man. "Listen. I have a father and a big brother, I've also got two overprotective best friends and a concerned…whatever. The last thing I need is another guy to help me try and figure out the mess that is my life so…"

"I don't think this counts as the 'mess that is your life.' I think this counts as something horrible that happened to my daughter when she was too young to protect herself and I have the right to know about it."

"The right to know about it?" She shot him an indignant look, "I don't think you do have the right to know about it. I think you have the right to know whatever the hell I feel like telling you! I didn't want to be here! You made this decision! Sonny made this decision, Jason made this decision, Lucky made this decision! I had no choice in the matter, it was either come with you or be stuck in Port Charles with three of the most important men in my life too pissed at me and too worried about me to do their damn jobs."

"Listen," he rubbed his hand across his forehead and was reminded, once again, that he had no clue how to related to his adult daughter. "I apologize. That was not the right choice of words, I merely wanted to let you know that I am here for you and that I would like to know about you—the good and the bad."

"Fine," she nodded, suitably scolded. "I'm sorry. I just—you're right, I haven't had a lot of sleep lately and I'm a little punchy. I jumped too soon and too far, if you plan on spending much time with me then you'll find that I do that a lot."

"Understood."

Emily nodded and Lorenzo noted that as soon as he said the words her eyes began to dart around the cabin looking for some form of escape.

"Hey. Is there somewhere around here where I can be alone? I promised that I would call Son—I promised I would call a friend once I got settled on the plane. Is that okay?"

"Certainly." He pointed behind her. "There is a small office in the back of the plane, all you have to do is lock the door behind you and anyone who wishes to enter will have to knock. Is that acceptable?"

"Uh, yeah. That's great. Thanks."

She started to get up and move quickly to the back of the cabin, but as her hand touched the door she abruptly turned back around and said, "Really. Thank you for, you know, all of this. I mean I know you get something out of it too, but still you've…understood. More than was really necessary and I'll try to be better, I'm just not sure what the proper procedure is for spending time with your long-lost father."

He slightly inclined his head in her general direction and smiled, "I'm sure we'll both need the next few weeks to learn to deal with each other better. Hopefully, as two adults, we'll succeed."

"Yeah," she turned the knob on the door and stepped in, "hopefully."

After she shut the door on her father she realized that she just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Sure, she'd escaped an uncomfortable situation with Lorenzo Alcazar aka her biological father, but now just was about to put herself in another one with a call to Sonny. She grinned and said to herself, "Well at least I can hang up on Sonny and the conversation will be over."

She hung on to the little bit of sanctuary and dialed his number.

"Corinthos," Sonny smiled down at Bella who was on the floor at his feet playing with Bailey as he worked on shipping logs for Corinthos/Morgan.

"Hey Corinthos, it's Quartermaine."

"Hey Quartermaine," he stood up from his chair and walked into the other room. Emily sounded like she wasn't in a fighting mood, but just in case the tide turned he didn't want his little sister to hear them arguing. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she figured he could probably hear the lie in her voice, but that was fine with her, she didn't want him thinking she wasn't still pissed at him.

"Really?"

"I fell asleep about five minutes into the trip, I just woke up a few minutes ago, that's why I'm just calling."

He could hear the truth beneath what she was saying. He found, more often than not, that when she woke up quickly after falling asleep then it meant she'd had a nightmare about her dead stepfather. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, you know Alcazar just wanted to do the whole sharing-time thing and I really wasn't into it. I guess I haven't been really into sharing anything with anyone. You know?"

She was throwing him a lifeline; at least he thought she was. This was more, even in vague undertones, than she had ever said to him about her nightmares or how they related to her life today, "You don't want to share with him?"

"No, no, I do. It's just that—Why can't we start smaller you know? Why isn't he asking me my favorite color or what type of music I listen to or something like that?"

Sonny grimaced to himself and sat down at the kitchen table, "Because you didn't have a dream about your favorite color or your favorite type of music."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind talking about those things." She picked at her fingernails and started searching around the desk for something to write on. "I mean, what if…never mind."

"No. What if, what?"

"Well, what if Mike asked you about Deke? Would you really want to tell him?"

"No, but Mike left his family by choice, your father didn't know you existed. It's different."

"Yeah," she nodded and started making circles on the stray piece of paper she'd found. "I sort of talked to him about you once."

"Alcazar?"

"No. Mike. It was after you left, around the time he and I were about to become Michael's godparents. He was drunk at the Grille…"

"Figures," Sonny interrupted and shifted in his seat. He was not comfortable with the direction of this conversation, but if her constant stuttering and heaving was any indication, then neither was she.

"Don't be mean. We were waiting for Jason to come pick him up and he started talking about you and Deke and how it was entirely his fault and…I don't want Alcazar to think that. I don't want to make him feel that way."

"Like I made Mike feel?"

"No, no," she damn near tripped over her own sentences trying to correct him. "That's not what I meant. Mike isn't completely wrong for blaming himself and you aren't completely wrong for blaming him, but like you said Alcazar didn't know about me. How could he know that he needed to protect me? Hell, I don't even know what to tell him. I don't remember all of it. Shouldn't I wait till I do; shouldn't I wait until I can give him the whole story before I dump this on him?"

"I don't know, baby." He sighed and rubbed his eyes. How could he give her the right answer when he didn't even have it himself? He wasn't sure who he blamed, other than Deke, for what happened to him, but he knew for sure that he didn't want to talk about it with anyone. "What do you feel?"

"Confused. I feel confused about everything. You, Alcazar, my mom, Nikolai, all these things I've learned. I just feel confused."

"Take me out of the equation, I'll keep. And we're working on Nikolai right now…"

"…and my biological father should be able to give me a little insight on the rest. Is that what you're getting at?"

"Don't be angry."

"How can I not be? You sent me away! I keep trying to rationalize it, I keep trying to understand it, but all I can think is that you sent me away."

"I know," he leaned his head against the phone and blew out a breath. "I don't know what to say to make you understand. Maybe we moved to fast, maybe I moved to fast. I should have given you more time, let you work some of this out before…before…"

"Do you regret it?"

"No!" He shook his head and calmed himself. "No, but that almost makes it worse. I don't think you're ready. Hell, I don't think I'm ready."

"So that's why you sent me away? Because we moved too far, too fast."

"No, that's why I feel guilty about it. I sent you—I thought you should spend time with Alcazar so that you could decide what you want. You didn't choose to be with me, you didn't choose this life for yourself. I just want you to know all your options because once I have you—if I ever have you—then I don't want to have to let you go because you aren't sure."

"So you think you shouldn't have had sex with me because…"

"Whoa. What? What are you talking about?"

"That's what we're talking right? We had sex and you think we shouldn't have because we moved too far, too fast." She threw the pen down on the desk and, unable to continue sitting, got up and started pacing.

"No, that is not what we are talking about." He pronounced each word to be sure she understood exactly what he was saying. "Having sex with you, making love with you, is not what I feel guilty about and not what I think we moved too fast with. It's everything else. You have no choice but to live with me. I'm raising my little sister now and you have no choice but to be a part of that. We built this life that most people wait for marriage to have and we've barely even decided to be together. That's what I feel guilty about. You've been turned into my wife before you even had a chance to decide if it was what you wanted."

"But I love spending time with Bella and you and you with Bella. Why would you think I don't want that?"

"I think that it's great for now, but what about when this is all done? Emily you disappeared from Port Charles when you were nineteen years old. You should have been out with your friends having fun and you were helping the FBI track done Nikolai. What happens once you have him? Are you going to want to be stuck in a life with me and a little girl or are you going to want to live and do the things you didn't have the chance too?"

"You think I'd ditch you and Bella?"

"No. I think you'd stay. You'd stay because you're loyal. Even if you were unhappy, even if you hated it, even if you wanted to go out and live your own life. You'd stay."

"What's so wrong with that? With being loyal."

"Nothing is wrong with being loyal, sweetheart, it's one of the things I love about you, but you could spend the rest of your life being loyal and forget that you also have to be happy. I don't want that for you. I don't want you to stay with me, with Bella, because you feel like you have to keep a promise that you made before you knew what you really wanted."

"You mean like your mother stayed with Deke or like mine stayed with…"

"Yes."

"But that's not the same. You aren't forcing me to stay, I have other options. I know I have other options. It's not the same."

"Don't you see? If I don't let you, make you, explore your options then it's exactly the same. I'll just be some guy who promised you something and trapped you in a life you don't want."

Emily shook her head and sat back down at the desk. She understood what he was saying, but she couldn't understand why he was saying it. Of course he didn't want her to feel trapped, but she never would, never had. Not with him. It was her choice to be with him and Bella and finally she realized that she'd just have to prove that to him, because of all the things she was unsure of, and there were a lot, the one thing she did know for sure was that when she was with them she felt at home. As confusing and abrupt as her feelings for Sonny were, she knew they were real. Now she only had to prove it to him, and the only way to do that was to play by his rules. "Alright. So what's the plan? I spend a few weeks with Alcazar and his parents and I make sure that being with you is what I want?"

"That's part of it," he nodded as if she was sitting right next to him and could see it.

"And what's the other part?"

"Being sure that, when all this is over, you're still happy with whatever choice you make."

"Alright." That sounded fair enough. For now. "I think I can do that. So what changes with us? Can I still call you? Can I still call Bella? Or do you want me to completely back off?"

"Whatever you want."

"Well I want to call you and Bella. I don't want either of you thinking I'm abandoning you."

Sonny shook his head and laughed. She didn't exactly seem to be getting his point. He didn't want her to prove her loyalty to him, he wanted her to be sure, but apparently they'd have to work on that later. "Okay."

"So…" she leaned back in the chair and smiled. "Now that, that's finished, how's Bella doing? Does she miss me?"

"You haven't even been gone a whole day yet."

"So she doesn't miss me?"

"No. No, she misses you. She wanted to know who was gonna read that book with her tonight."

"Oh, _Little Women_. Sonny you have to do it. I promised her we'd finish at least a book a month and if you don't get that done then we'll be behind and she'll be disappointed. She can really read it on her own, she just likes to have someone with her. You can do that right?"

"I do know how to read."

"I know that, but it's a girly book."

"Bella says I'll like this Jo character."

"Well…" she nodded her head, "yeah, you probably will. So you'll do it?"

"Yes. I had to go through this same conversation with her. What is it with you two?"

"Well, you don't exactly spend a lot of time reading Sonny. What do you expect?"

"I read."

"Shipping logs and bank records don't count Corinthos."

"I'm seriously considering sending you both away for a couple of months. Brats."

Emily laughed, shot a look at the locked door of the cabin and said, "Hey."

"Hey what?"

"What are you wearing?"

He nearly spat out is coffee all over the kitchen table. "Excuse me?"

"What are you wearing?" She wondered if he could hear the smile in her voice. She wondered if she really wanted him to, they'd never actually tried this before.

"Bella is in the next room."

"My biological father is about ten steps away from me, of course there is a locked door between us, but still..."

"A suit. I had a meeting earlier."

"Hmmm," she settled back into the chair. "You know what I like about you Corinthos?"

"No. What?"

"That you look almost as sexy in a suit as you do in absolutely nothing. It's really kind of amazing. Which one? The black Armani, please say the black Armani."

"Close, dark blue."

She wiggled her eyebrows cheekily, "Hmmm. That's really just as good. How about you do me a favor and take of the jacket and open up the top few buttons."

"I don't think so. What are you wearing?"

"Same thing I was when you saw me earlier. Jeans and the green tank top. Oh, and there is the sling, but I figure that's not what you meant."

"Not exactly. Is your hair up or down?"

"Up."

"Take it down."

"Alright," she grinned, pulled the ponytail holder out of her hair and shook it out. "Your turn. Ditch the jacket Corinthos."

He stood up to take his jacket off just as Bella came bounding into the room. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Nothing." Then why did he feel like he'd just been caught by his mother, making out with his girlfriend?

"Oh. Is that Emmy?"

"Uh," Sonny pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it. "Yeah."

"Tell her I said hi and I miss her and I'm taking good care of Bailey. We have to walk him later, don't forget," She started to leave the room and then turned back to him. "Oh, and I need your help with my homework."

"I thought it was all done last night."

"It was, but I have a project too."

"Okay, I'll be right in." Sonny watched her go and then brought the phone back to his ear, but the only thing he could hear was Emily laughing hysterically on the other end. He waited until she was finished and said, "It's not funny."

"Oh," she tried to catch her breath. "But it is. So very funny."

He shook his head and glared at the table, "I need to go."

"Oh, don't pout. Brenda told me that Michael has walked in on them a couple of times…or he did when he was younger, now he's learned to knock."

"Shut up. That's disgusting."

"Uh huh," she continued smiling into the phone. "Have fun helping Bella and I'll call you tonight. Maybe we can finish this."

"Don't count on it."

"I love you."

He shook his head, suddenly serious and said nothing in return.

"Sonny, I told you I'd think about what you said and what I want for my life, but that doesn't change how I feel right now. What do you feel?"

"I love you too."

"Good. Bye," she flipped her phone closed before he could say anything else. The stubborn ass. She shook her head and walked back into the main cabin of the plane.

"How was your phone call?"

"Huh?" Suddenly having Bella walk in on Sonny was not so funny. "Oh, it was fine."

"Are you cold?"

"Am I—? No. Why?"

"You took your hair down."

"Oh. That." Yup, Bella walking in on Sonny was definitely not funny. She'd have to apologize. "I just like wearing it down sometimes." She took the pony tail holder from around her wrist and put it back in her hair.

"While you were talking with…your friend, my father called. He's very interested in meeting you."

"Does he know who I am? I mean who I am to you and to him?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

"No," she rubbed her forehead and slouched back into the couch. "Of course not, he's your father you're allowed to tell him whatever you want to."

"I apologize."

"For what?"

"I hadn't realized it would make you uncomfortable to have them know. I keep doing that to you."

"No, no it's okay. Really. I look a lot like my mother; they probably would have figured it out anyway. And the other thing," she took a deep breath, "I think I overreacted. I mean you had a right to ask considering that you were sitting right here when I had the nightmare. I just—I don't really want to talk about it."

"Alright."

"I mean that doesn't mean I'll never want to talk about it. Just not right now."

"I understand."

She shot him a wan smile and shook her head, "I'm not sure you do, but maybe one day."

He only nodded and leaned back into the seat, "Is there anything you would like to know before we land? About me, or your grandparents, or anything else that you can think of?"

"Uh, what are they like?"

"They are…interesting."

"Interesting? That's that sort of thing I say about someone I don't like. You got a problem with your parents, Alcazar?" She smiled over at him, hoping to ease the tension. Of course calling her biological father by his last name probably wasn't the best way to ease the pressure between them.

"No. They love each other very much and they love me, they just have an interesting way of doing things. They're…"

"Interesting."

"Complicated. Very complicated. My relationship with your mother was almost the exact opposite of theirs. Where Sophie and I were open and caring with each other, my mother and father seemed remote and nonchalant. I tried to be very honest with your mother about everything, but I'm not sure if my father is honest with my mother at all. However, they've been together for a very long time and both seem very happy with each other."

Emily grinned and nodded at him, "Yeah. My mother and father and, for that matter, my grandmother and grandfather are kind of like that. I guess no one really knows what goes on inside a marriage or a relationship except the people in it."

He nodded and got the point. He didn't know her, he didn't know Sonny Corinthos, and his opinion was not need or asked for concerning any of the above.

"What about my mother's parents? Did you know them?"

"You grandmother died before I ever met you mother and her father loved her very much. He was, from what I remember, a very quiet man, but also very intelligent and caring. He loved her more than anything."

"I bet that didn't help with Nikolai's obsession with her."

"No, it didn't."

"So, do you think he's obsessed with me too? Or is he just looking for a way to get at you?"

"I do not know. I think if he knows for sure that you are Sophie's daughter then, yes, he will probably be obsessed with you too."

Emily looked down at her arm and nodded, "So that's what he wanted."

"Excuse me?"

She looked up at him, startled, and said, "Do you know if he would still have anything with my mother's DNA on it?"

"I…I have no idea. Possibly. Why?"

"When he had me, I guess I'm assuming it was him, but anyway they took blood from me. I was worried that maybe they put something in me too, but that doctors say no. So I guess that's what he wanted. My blood. To be sure."

"Possibly."

"And you don't seem the slightest bit bothered or confused by this. Why is that?"

"I've deal with Andrejs and his insanity for many, many years. I don't think there is anything about him or his way of doing things that could surprise me at this point."

"So you know him well then?"

"Yes," he inclined his head in her general direction. What was she getting at?

"Then what the hell is his planning? Why kidnap me? Why wait so long? What's his end game?"

"I can't tell you what he may be planning." He, once again, settled back into the couch. "I think he probably waited so long because, at some point, your mother managed to slip off of his radar and as far as what he wants with you, I don't know. It could be a great many things. He may believe that having you may help him restore his empire to the power it held under Sophie's father, he may believe that you are the closest to your mother he will ever get. I'm sure that not even Simon knows exactly what Andrejs' plans for you are. That was always part of the…allure for Simon. They never know what the other will do."

"Did that ever make them not trust each other," Emily asked as a plot began to form in her mind.

"Rarely, though there were occasions when one would take too many steps without the other realizing what was happening and they'd be wary of each other for a time. Why?"

"No reason," she lied. She certainly wasn't interested in hearing him tell her that it was too dangerous, at least not until she had the plan completely worked out in her head. If she was lucky then the boys would be ready to pick her up just as she had the full plan pulled together and just as they had ambushed her, she would ambush them.

"Alright." He knew that look; he'd seen it on her mother's face more than once while they were together and it always caused him to worry. Of course she would inherit the one trait of Sophie's that he hated—her complete stubbornness and belief that she was right no matter how insane one of her 'plans' became.

"How much do you know about Simon?"

"Very little. Only what I've learned from actually spending time with him. Either Nikolai or someone else did a very good job of expunging his history, or he simple does not have one."

"Everyone has some sort of history, so that must mean someone got rid of his. I wonder why."

"I can look into it."

"You haven't before?"

"Not with a great deal of ardor, the only thing I ever needed to know about Simon was that he was loyal to Andrejs and an enemy."

"Alright, well, if you don't mind I'd really like to know as much about him as possible."

"I'll arrange for it when we land."

"Good," she smiled. "Thank you. So…what does your house look like?"

"It's…I would rather if you saw it for yourself. It is very beautiful, but it has a much stronger impact, I'm told, if the person does not know what to expect."

"A surprise then?"

"Yes, a surprise."

"Cool. That works for me. So," she slouched into the couch and smiled over at him, "what sort of things are you interested in?"

He returned the smiled and the two of them spent the rest of the trip telling each other about the likes and dislikes concerning food, music, sports and other innocuous things. Neither was ready to go to deep, so the conversation suited, perfectly, both of their needs.


	26. Chapter TwentySix

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it! Never will!

* * *

"Hey, hey, hey." Brenda was grinning from ear to ear as she came running down the stairs and into Jason's arms. She shot a quick look around the room to make sure Michael wasn't around and then looked up at him, "Guess what?"

Jason wrapped his arms around Brenda's waist and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, "What?"

"They're growing."

"What's growing?"

"These," she pointed down at her breasts and continued smiling at him.

"Oh. That's…good?" He was on dangerous ground here and he knew it. Anytime Brenda asked if she was getting bigger he knew the answer was supposed to be no, but pregnant women were supposed to get bigger, that was the point. Wasn't it? And she was smiling.

"What? You don't like them?" She pulled away from him and turned to the side so that she could pull her shirt closer to her body and give him a better look.

"I—I always like your body, you know that."

"Of course, but aren't you supposed to be excited or something? I thought guys liked bigger ones and well you, Jason Morgan, are a breast man."

"I am?" Why didn't he know that?

"Oh yeah," she grinned at him. "Think about it. What's the first thing you go for the minute we start having sex?" She wiggled her eyebrows and pointed down.

Jason shook his head and scrubbed his hands across his face, "You don't know why I do that?"

"Sure I do, because you're a breast man."

"Possibly, but I never…that's something that I do for you."

"What do you mean?" She shook her head and tried to pull away to look up at him, but he pulled her back to him.

"You like that. You're very, uh, sensitive there. I like watching your reaction."

"I'm…? Oh, really?"

"Yeah," he grinned and nuzzled her neck. He had been planning on working on some accounts for the coffee warehouse, but as long as he had his wife in his arms and interested they could wait.

"Wait, wait, wait," she groaned as he kissed his way down her neck and latched on to the pulse point on her throat. "Where's Michael?"

"Who cares," he murmured against her throat and continued on down.

"I do and you do too. We don't want to scar the poor boy for…"

"He's over at Sonny's with Bella. They've got a project or something due next week," he answered as he started to undo the buttons of her shirt. He pushed it off of her shoulders and let it dangle on her arms as he moved his hands back up her torso and rested them on the silk fabric covering the aforementioned breasts. She was right, he grinned as his fingers spread out over the silk, they were getting a little bigger. Interesting.

"You know," she half smiled, half groaned as she looked down at his hands. "They say that sometimes, certain parts of a women's anatomy get even more sensitive when they are pregnant. What do you think about that?"

"Hmmm," he smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her so that he could unhook her bra. "I think we should test that theory."

"Oh, I am so glad we agree."

Brenda saw the door knob turn before she saw the door shoved open, but even with that little bit of warning Jason was still turning around to block her and reach for his gun before she had a chance to react.

"Hey!" Gia stepped back and put her hands up. "What the hell is wrong with you, freak? Do you pull a gun on every guest on comes through the door."

Jason only scowled and set the gun back down, "No. Because everyone else who comes over knocks first."

"I thought that was the guards job and since there wasn't one on the door up here I didn't think it would be a problem. Geez," Gia finally calmed down and looked past Jason at Brenda, whose shirt was still unbuttoned and hanging from her hands. "Damn, you were right, they are getting bigger."

"Wha…" Jason turned around, realized that Brenda did not have her shirt on and then stepped in front of her. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Hey. Girl." Gia pointed to own breasts to show him proof of the fact. "I've seen tits before, as a matter of face I've got two of my own. I mean they aren't quite that…substantial, but they are there."

Brenda smiled as she pulled on her shirt and buttoned it. "I told you. They're getting bigger, right? I wonder if they'll stay that way."

"Sure," Gia walked over and slid onto the couch. "Of course they'll also get longer."

"That's," Brenda scrunched up her face, "unappealing."

"Eh, you've got money. You can get them lifted or enhanced or whatever. Don't worry about it."

Jason merely shook his head as he stared between the two of them. He really had no clue what they were talking about and from the sound of it he really didn't want to. "Uh, I think I'm gonna go…Michael and Bella are working on a project for school, Sonny might need help."

Gia only smiled triumphantly as Brenda gave Jason a kiss and he left.

"Okay," Brenda walked over to the chair and sat down. "What is wrong with you? I was about to have sex with my husband. And with Emily and the baby and all the other crap going on around here I am ashamed to say that, well, it's been a little while."

"Oh God," Gia threw up her arms and scowled at her friend. "One week is not a little while you nympho, on month is a while, two months is a while, one week is normal. And anyway I have serious problems."

"And if I don't get to have sex with my husband soon then so will I. But since you've already ruined the mood, what's wrong?"

"Lucky found out."

"Lucky found out what?"

"That I thought I was pregnant."

"So?"

"So now he's acting all weird and stuff. He took me out to a romantic dinner last night and then tried the whole seduction thing when we got home…he said we should, maybe, date exclusively. No more cheating."

"Gia," Brenda rolled her eyes at her friend. "You two have been dating exclusively for months now, probably a year. When was the last time you took a male model home or a designer or anyone other than Lucky? And so what, he took you out to dinner. Guys do that."

"Not Lucky. Lucky takes me to the Jakes or to the Haunted Star, he does not take me out to a sit-down restaurant and order wine—that actually went with the dinner!—and things like that. He just doesn't. It's not his thing. He doesn't try to seduce. The first time we had sex you wanna know what his idea of a seduction was?"

"Probably not."

"He asked if I wanted to put the condom on him or if I wanted him to do it himself."

"That's…Why the hell have you been with him for this long?"

"Because he's…Lucky. He's cute and sweet and dangerous and perfect, he's everything I'm not. He still believes in happily ever after, I bet he even thinks unicorns are real. I mean think about all he's been through with his parents, being kidnapped, losing his best friend, finding out he had a brother, being on the run for most of his childhood and he still believes that we'll end up together. He's like one of those women at the Miss America pageants that want world peace."

"So…"

"So he's also incredibly screwed up. He's pissed as his father for marrying Skye, even though he likes her; he still hasn't completely gotten over being kidnapped and Helena screwing with his head; his ex-girlfriend/soul mate just showed up in town. All that stuff screams mid-life crisis or something. Why does he want this now?"

Brenda shook her head and moved over to the couch so she could sit next to Gia. "Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, his father finally committing to someone other this his mother and his ex coming back to town have forced him to deal with the fact that he's not a kid anymore and he needs to move on with his life?"

"No."

"Jesus Christ Gia! What do you want from him?"

"I don't—" She leaned back into the couch and closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her face.

"Oh, Oh, Oh," Brenda leaned across the couch and wrapped her arms around her best friend. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I'm just emotional and hormonal and God…"

"No," Gia cried into her shoulder, "that's not it. I just—What if I'm not cut out to be a good girlfriend? I saw Marcus the other day and he told me that the reason I am with Lucky is that I know he'll never really commit or be a good boyfriend and so I can leave him at anytime and not feel bad about it. Do you think that's true?"

"No." She really wanted to kill Marcus Taggart. What kind of asshole said something like that to their little sister? "It's not true, sweetheart. It's not. You're with Lucky because you love him and because he makes you feel free and confident and happy and, as much as you love your big brother, Taggart hates that. He hates that it's Lucky that makes you happy. And, as a brother, he will always want better for you."

"But what's better than Lucky?"

Brenda wanted to laugh out loud. This girl who couldn't imagine someone better than her boyfriend out there in the world didn't know if they'd make it or not. What more proof did she need? "To your brother? I'm sure a doctor or a lawyer or a cop, definitely not a mobster. I know it's hard, but they aren't ever gonna get along. You know that."

"I know and it's not fair."

"Yeah well," she gave Gia a smacking kiss on the cheek and moved back to her seat on the couch, "life isn't fair. So your brother and your boyfriend hate each other, but they love you and for that reason alone they will do their best not to kill each other. At least there is that."

"I guess. So you really think that Lucky loves me?"

"Yes."

"And I love him?"

"Yes." She laughed. Only Gia Campbell would have to ask if she was in love with someone.

"What if he, like, asks me to marry him or something? What should I say?"

"You think he's gonna ask you to marry him?"

"How the hell do I know? I'm just trying to be prepared in case he does. Geez."

Brenda shook her head and laughed, "Say the first thing that comes to your mind."

"Oh God, Bren, how often does the first thing that comes to my mind make sense?"

"Rarely, but Lucky knows that."

"Yeah," she thought about it and nodded. "Yeah, I guess he does. Geez, what the hell is wrong with us? You with Jason, me with Lucky…and then there's Sonny and Emily. Well at least we aren't as screwed up as them."

"I don't know. They seem to actually be talking things out, you know, like normal people."

"Shocking. So how's domestic bliss?"

"Blissful."

"Who would have thought, Brenda Barrett and Jason Morgan the American Dream?"

"Not me, but it works for us."

"So how's my little niece or nephew?"

"Good, growing. Roomless."

"Roomless? What does that mean? Isn't it, like, cooking in there," she pointed at Brenda's stomach.

"Yes it's…cooking in here. But when it gets out it's gonna be sleeping in the bathtub."

"Why would…" Gia thought about it and, much as Emily had, counted up the rooms in the penthouse and laughed. "You don't have enough rooms for the kid!"

"Thank you professor."

"Are you gonna move?"

"I don't know. I haven't brought it up to him; I figured he'd want to stay here."

"Why? You won't have anywhere to put your kid. That's weird."

"Yeah, but he's always lived here."

"Well I don't know what someone else would say, but I figure if you have sex with your wife without protection and take the risk of knocking her up then you should be ready to move into a bigger place so the kid doesn't have to sleep on the pool table. Maybe that's just me."

"We weren't trying to get pregnant and neither of us thought about the rooms."

"Oh God," Gia rolled her eyes. "You know what you just said to me about Lucky and him loving me and just saying what comes to my mind? Follow that advice and talk to your husband about moving into a place where your kids don't have to sleep in the sink. Freak."

"Bitch."

"Oh please, I don't even pretend that's an insult anymore."

"Keep it up and I'll start calling you Lizzie…"

"Oh," Gia groaned. "Now that is just mean."

* * *

"Mr. Cassadine," Mrs. Lansbury stepped into Nikolas' study and smiled softly at him, "Mr. Spencer here to see you."

"Thanks Mrs. L." Lucky shot the older woman a smile and wink as she blushed and left the two brothers alone. "God she's cute."

Nikolas only shook his head, if there was one thing that Lucky and Luke Spencer had in common it was their need to flirt with every woman they came in contact with. "One of these days she's going to get you alone and take advantage."

"Hey, every young man needs an older woman to show them the ways of the world. You had Katherine, I had Mrs. Lansbury, but soon she's going to have to find another young man to school. I'm going off the market."

"Are you?" Nikolas was suddenly interested. He'd been expecting this since then year before when his brother called him pissed off because he'd found out that Gia had been sleeping with a photographer. Nikolas pointed out at that time that Lucky had also been sleeping with a host at Luke's, but that didn't seem to matter. Apparently at some point after that each of them had broken off their outside relationships and committed to each other—or at least stopped having sex with other people.

"Yep. I took my girl out to a quiet dinner for two last night, next week I'm surprising her with a trip to New York and after everything with Em and dad's wedding to Skye has calmed down I'm gonna ask to her marry me."

Nikolas smiled and stepped around his desk to give Lucky a hug, "Congratulations little brother."

Lucky hugged Nikolas back and laughed. "Can you believe it?"

"Actually, yes."

"You know when we first met her, after Em disappeared, I thought that you and Gia would get together."

"That is…fascinating."

Lucky only laughed as his brother scrunched up his face. "Guess not. Well, aren't you going to offer me some liquor big brother? We are celebrating here."

"Of course," Nikolas walked over to the liquor cabinet, took out two glasses and a bottle of bourbon and poured each of them a drink. "To Gia, for putting up with you for this long."

"To Gia." Lucky knocked back the drink and sat down on the couch. "Actually there's more. I need your help."

"Sure. What do you need?"

Lucky reached into his pocket and pulled out three small boxes, "I don't know which one to give her."

"Why aren't you talking to Brenda or Emily about this?"

"Brenda can't keep a secret and Emily…didn't Alexis tell you?"

"No. Is something wrong? Is she back in the hospital?"

"No, she's in Venezuela."

"Venez…with Alcazar."

"How do you…Jesus, right, I forgot your cousin is his—what?—niece."

"Yes."

"So how much do you know at this point?"

"Well," Nikolas leaned back into the couch. "Enough. I know that Luis Alcazar was Samantha's father. I know that the Alcazars, Emily's mother, Stefan, and Alexis were all close friends. I know that Emily's father is Lorenzo Alcazar and I know that her mother was Andrejs Nikolai's step sister."

"So…a lot. This is weird, huh? All this time we've been friends and we didn't know that Em's mom knew your family."

"I've made an effort not to be upset with Alexis and Stefan for not telling me…"

"And?"

"And so far I've failed. From what I understand Alexis didn't know that Emily was this woman's daughter, but my uncle did have some contact with her and knew there was a child and he won't say it, but I believe he knew that Emily was related to her."

"So why didn't he say anything?"

"With my family? Who knows? I assume that he figured it would never come up, Emily didn't know him and Alexis didn't realize who she was, why would he expect that something like this would happen?"

"Because it always does." Lucky grinned as Nikolas nodded. "Hey, what about Luis Alcazar?"

"What about him?"

"Why didn't Stefan or Alexis say anything about all of this then?"

"Again, who knows? Apparently they didn't even speak to each other about it until after he was killed and then it was only to be sure that they didn't need to cover for each other."

"Well, I guess it's good to know that if you ever need someone to cover up a murder for you, you've got an aunt and uncle who will help."

"Yeah, but if I need someone to tell me the truth about something I certainly can't go to either of them."

"Hey man," Lucky scrubbed his hands down his face and sunk further into the couch, "I know how you feel. Believe me, I do, but don't start turning everything they've said to you into a lie…especially not Natasha. You know I would mind too much if you decided to cut Stefan off though."

"Thanks," Nikolas laughed. "I can always count on you to be helpful."

"Yeah, well, that's what I'm here for. Anyway, are you gonna look at these rings or not?"

"Not."

"Wha—Come on. Are you serious? I thought you were happy for me."

"I am, and that's why I'm going to tell you to get a woman's opinion on this. Trust me. Ask Skye, ask Brenda and tell her she has to keep her mouth shut, I can call Mrs. Lansbury back in if you want me to and you can ask her, but don't even think about showing me that ring before you give it to Gia."

"Why?"

"Because she'll find out and be pissed about it."

Lucky scratched his head and nodded. He wasn't sure why Gia would be pissed if Nikolas picked out her engagement ring, but he figured he might as well take his brother's advice; while neither of them were exactly experts on how a relationship worked, Lucky was willing to admit that Nikolas was probably a little better at anticipating a woman's needs and wants than he was. "Alright. So…have you talked to Liz?"

"Have you?"

"I asked you first."

Nikolas laughed and shook his head. _Little brothers. _"No."

"Did you hear she's engaged?"

"To Ric Lansing. I heard. Always nice when your lawyer marries you ex-wife."

"Well at least your brother didn't marry your best girl."

"Still not over that, huh?"

"Dude," Lucky groaned and shook his head. This had been a half-joke, half-truth that they'd carefully talked around since the engagement announcement. "You married the first girl I ever loved."

"Like hell I did."

"Oh, well who did you marry then?"

"The second girl you ever loved."

"Then who was the first."

The two of them looked at each other and said, simultaneously, "Emily."

Nikolas laughed again and asked, "Does Gia know about you and Emily?"

"What me and Emily? There is no me and Emily." Lucky grinned as his brother stared at him, unconvinced. "Yeah, she knows. She says I'm lucky that Emily is with Sonny otherwise she might have to keep me away from my best friend. I keep telling her there wouldn't be anything to worry about, but you know Gia. She's…"

"Gia."

"Yeah."

"How does that work anyway? Emily and Sonny?"

"Beats the hell outta me, but it works. I guess."

"You guess?"

Lucky smiled and cocked his head to stare at his brother, "Are you thinking about getting with Emily?"

"Getting with? I don't even know what that means."

"Yes you do. Don't play prince with me."

"No. I am not thinking of _getting with _Emily and even if I was, I don't believe she thinks of me that way."

"But," Lucky raised his eyebrows, "you think of her that way?"

"No." Nikolas thought about it for a second and then nodded his head. "Not at all."

"Good." Lucky shook his head and smiled over at his brother. He didn't even want to know what would have happened and Nikolas had ever actually considered getting together with Emily, especially now that she was with Sonny. He knew of Emily's crush on his brother, when she was younger, and while he didn't believe there were any lingering feelings, things could have become more than a little dangerous if she decided, even for a little while, that there were. "So what are the almighty Cassadines going to do about Sam McCall?"

Nikolas shook his head and suddenly became very interested in the bottom of his glass.

"Nikolas?" Still no answer. Uh-oh. "You guys aren't gonna, like, get rid of her or something are you?"

"What? Get rid of her? No. Where do you get this stuff?"

"Well you are a Cassadine."

"Right, which means I should be trying to get rid of you, not Samantha."

"I was just saying…"

"Uncle wants to make an announcement to bring her into the family, Alexis is fighting him about that."

"Why?"

"Helena."

"Oh. Good reason. Does she think the old bat will try to kill her or something?"

"It's not completely out of the question, but no, not exactly. She knows that my grandmother wouldn't risk alienating me by killing Alexis' daughter, but she also knows that killing someone isn't the only way to make them suffer. Samantha has…colorful, to say the least, past and Alexis is worried that if Helena got a hold of any of that information then she could make problems."

Lucky nodded, "So do you know about her sister?"

"That she was murdered? Yes."

"That she was murdered by Nikolai's second in command. Didn't he used to have some sort of connection to the Cassadines or something?"

"That's what my uncle says." Nikolas answered vaguely.

"And you two aren't thinking about checking to see if Simon killing Sam's sister had something to do with Helena, are you?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Come on Nikky! You know why I'm asking. We're at war with Nikolai right now."

"Oh really, that's interesting, and there aren't bodies falling from the sky. Your boss must be working on self control right now."

"Kiss ass, Nikolas. You and I both know that this isn't just about business, it's about Em too. We need this guy alive."

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? It's not obvious?"

Nikolas smiled to himself and shook his head, "It's obvious that there is some connection, but what, exactly, that connection is, isn't obvious. I'm going to need to you explain it to me."

Lucky groaned as he realized what Nikolas was getting at. The Cassadine, with the exception of Alexis, knew that there was something going on with Andrejs Nikolai and that it had something to do with Emily's mother, but that didn't know how, exactly, Emily became involved. "Fine. Let me make a call."

"No," Nikolas stood up and blocked his brother's path. "If you call Jason or Sonny they may say no or talk you out of telling me because their worried about what I'll do, but you know me Lucky. You, me, Emily, Liz. We practically taught each other the value of family and loyalty, don't try to tell me that what's going on with my best friend doesn't involved me."

"Fat lot of good that did us," Lucky grunted under his breath and leaned back into his seat. "Fine, but you get the short version. Okay?"

"Okay." Nikolas nodded and sat back down.

"Alright, here's what happened: You remember when Emily disappeared," Lucky continued on, not waiting for an answer, "well she didn't lose her memory like we've been telling everyone. She was, essentially, recruited by the FBI because they noticed that Sorel was watching her. They found out that his buttons were being pushed by Nikolai and so they started to look into Em's history and somehow, we still don't know how, they found out who her mother and father were. So that night they brought her in, told her they knew who her biological father was, and that if she wanted to know she had to work with them to take Nikolai down. And that's what she did until they realized he was making his way back to Port Charles, so they brought her back here and that's where we are now."

"How was she helping them? I mean this is Em we're talking about."

"Yeah," Lucky smiled and shook his head. "This is Em we're talking about. Have you ever known her to back away from a challenge?" Nikolas shook his head. "Yeah, me either. They trained her and turned her into this, like, super kick-ass assassin type chick. It's crazy."

"Emily…? Our Emily? A super kick-ass assassin type chick?" Nikolas cocked his head to the side as he realized how ridiculous those words sounded coming out of his mouth.

"Yup."

"Do you know why Nikolai was searching for her to begin with?"

"Nope, but we figure it either had something to do with his obsession with her mother or he wants to rebuild his step daddy's empire and he can't do it without her. You know, a family member related by blood. That sort of thing."

"Blood tells."

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Nikolas shook his head. "Just something my grandmother used to drill into me. Blood tells. It's an aristocracy thing."

"Oh. Well it's one of those things, anyway."

"Okay, how have they managed to make this work? They trained her, they've brought her back her as a mobster, what happened in between?"

"The way she tells it they built up her reputation as Corey Wilson—"

"Corey Wilson?" Nikolas shook his head and shot up from his chair. "I'd always assumed that Corey Wilson was a man."

"Whoa, huh? You've heard the name?"

"Of course I've heard the name. Half of the illegitimate business world has heard the name. She's done work for the Organizatsiya a few times."

"That's…that's Russian mob right?"

"Yes, that's Russian mob. I've heard that Vyacheslav Ivankov* contacted her personally to kill someone."

"No shit. You think it's true?"

"I don't know, but I plan on finding out."

Both men settled back into their seats and thought about the implications of what they'd told each other. Not only was Emily more lethal than either of them had imagined, but she was also much more connected, or at least much better known, than they'd expected. Whether Vyacheslav Ivankov had really contacted her to kill someone or not didn't matter, enough people believed it that the information had actually made its way to Nikolas Cassadine.

* * *

Emily stepped out of the Alcazar jet and looked around for a minute, trying to get her bearings. She inspected the ground and then finally looked up, confused, at her surroundings. "I thought we were going to Caracas."

"Ah," Lorenzo smiled and took her hand so that she could safely walk down the stairs. "Yes, a lot of people make that assumption, though most of them don't realize that it is not the case until much later…"

"Oh, uh, I've been to Caracas a few times on business with…with a friend. It doesn't look like this, exactly."

"No, it doesn't. This is the airport in Maracaibo, the capitol city of Zulia."

"Oh…" She trailed off and looked around a second before saying, "So your family lives in Maracaibo?"

Lorenzo smiled again and shook his head, "Not exactly. We'll have about a forty-five minute ride to the family compound."

"Compound?"

"Yes."

"Well…Oh, again, I guess. I should probably stop making assumptions."

"No, it's quite alright. Do you know much about this area?"

"Um, very little. I know Maracaibo is the second largest city in Venezuela, after Caracas and that Zulia borders Colombia, which I guess, makes sense considering…" Again, she trailed off and shot him an apologetic look.

"Considering the family business. Yes, you're right, the connections we have with Colombia have been very useful in the past, though less so lately. What else?"

"I don't know. The country makes money off of oil and some of it comes from around here and I think, I guess. Not much else."

"That's quite a bit more than most people know."

"Like I said, I've been too Caracas and a few other places in Venezuela. I like to know a little bit of information about the places I'm traveling to…you never know when some innocuous behavior is going to be considered insulting."

"No." He nodded. "You never do."

"Why do I get the feeling your testing me?"

"I don't know. I'm not. I am, however, intrigued by your knowledge."

"And so instead of telling me the things I need to know you're waiting to see if I can guess them?"

"Yes."

"Yeah," she shook her head and laughed. "That's testing."

"Does it bother you?"

"No. I generally just like to have a little more warning when I need to be on point, that's all."

"Of course, I'm sorry."

"No," she shook her head again and wanted to kick herself. They'd almost developed an understanding of each other on the plane ride and here she was screwing it up already. "Listen, uh, if you get to know me well enough then you will realize that I have a tendency to speak before I think. It's just one of those things—You know?—that crazy people do."

"Yes, I think I do." Lorenzo thought of his brother and how often their father had to censor Luis' comments in front of outsiders. "We'll make the drive to the house and," he looked down at his watch, "it's still early so I'm sure my father, at least, will be there to greet us."

"Oh."

"Is that a problem?"

"No," she smiled unconvincingly. "No. It's just—I thought I might get to settle in before we did the whole meet the family thing. That's all."

"Would you like me to call ahead and tell him not to be waiting?"

"No, of course not. It's his house, he can wait if he wants to. It's just…he's not gonna be expecting me to call him grandpa or anything. Is he?"

"No," Lorenzo shook his head and tried to imagine his father's reaction to Emily calling him grandpa. The only emotions he could clearly imagine were displeasure and delight.

"Okay, well then I guess it's alright."

"Good." Lorenzo nodded and opened up the limo door so that she could step in.

They rode in silence for a nearly fifteen minutes, until finally she couldn't take it anymore and said, "So…you ever met Chavez."

"Yes," he answered, completely serious. "A few times."

"Oh," she gave one quick nod of her head. Of course he'd met the president of his country, she thought sardonically, hadn't everyone?

"You think that's odd?"

"No, well, yes. Don't you? I mean I know he's…different from the U.S. president and all, but that's still a little weird. You guys aren't, like, on a first name basis or anything? You don't call him up and ask him for salad recipes, do you?"

"Salad recipes?"

"Oh, drop the confused foreigner act. You know what I meant."

"I believe you are the foreigner here," he smiled and tapped her knee, "but yes, I know what you meant. And no, I do not."

"So is he good for business?"

"He can be. He can be bad for business too. As with most things it depends on…" he trailed off waiving his hand in the air, "how the winds blow."

"Or how the pipelines flow." She retorted, thinking of Venezuela's oil reserves.

"That too." He smiled, impressed at the ease with which she talked to him and the intelligence of her conversation. He hadn't expected her to be dumb, no daughter of Sophie's would be; however she'd also been raised by the Quartermaines and they seemed to be a uniquely self-absorbed group of people. It wouldn't have been hard for them to raise a young woman who thought only of herself and who could only comment on issues relating directly to her.

"What are you thinking?"

"That I'm very surprised and impressed with your astuteness."

"Well…that's…I'm not sure if I should be flattered or irritated."

"Flattered, I did not mean to irritate you."

"Doesn't usually make a difference with me."

"It does with me."

"Fine," she cocked her head to the side and smiled, "I'll be flattered."

"Good, so…" He trailed off as the limo came to a slow stop.

"Are we there already?"

"No," Lorenzo leaned forward and knocked three times on the window separating them from the driver. He received two in return. Trouble. "Put your head down."

"Wha…" Later she wouldn't be oddly embarrassed by the fact that she screamed as the widow next to her shattered. She managed to shove her body over to the other side of the back seat so that no glass hit her, but it still took her a few seconds after that to realize what was happening, and that it wasn't a brick or rock that shattered the window, but rather a bullet. She whipped her head up to stare at the man across from her and said, "Do you have a gun?"

"Yes."

"Good," she turned and shoved open the door next to her with her good arm. "Stay here." Before he could respond she was out of the limo and slamming the door closed behind her, leaning against it. She carefully took the brace off of her arm and set it on the ground next to her before reaching behind her, again with the good arm, and taking her gun out of the waist band of her pants. She couldn't hear anymore gunshots and she wasn't sure if she should be comforted or concerned about that. The sound of the graveled ground shifting to her left had her swerving around to the rear of the car and aiming at about the place she'd expected the head of someone peaking around the corner to be.

"What are you doing?"

Emily looked up and saw the driver standing, out in the open, in front of her. "Resting…what the hell does it look like! Why are you standing? Get down here." She reached up to pull him down and he swatted her hands away.

"Does not matter."

"Does not matter." She shook her head, confused. "What does not matter?"

"Does not matter if you sit or stand. They shoot from above. Marco looks for them."

"Marco looks for them…" She assumed that Marco was the other man who'd been sitting in the front of the car and that the driver was telling her that the other man had gone off to find the shooters. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting. Watching."

"Watching for what?" She stood up carefully and looked around. They looked to be in valley of some sort with hills rising above them on both sides and more tree coverage than she cared to think about.

"Kidnappers."

"Kidnappers?"

"Yes. Why do you repeat?"

"Why do I…" she trailed off and shook her head. "I'm just trying to grasp the situation."

The driver, she vaguely remembered his name being Vincent or something like that, reached out and took her hands in his. "Grasp?" He turned each of her hands over in his and shook his head. "Why?"

"No I meant…" She was going to say she was trying to wrap her head around the situation, but she figured that would be worse than grasp. "I'm just trying to understand what is happening."

"Oh. They see the expensive car and think it may be someone important so they tried to take…it is normal. Nothing to worry." He light brown eyes shined out at her curiously and she thought, for a second, that he looked more like a little boy than a man employed by the mob. There was a touch of salt and pepper at his temples and the crows feet in the corners of his eyes winked out at her. He looked, to her, like some South American grandfather who kept mints in his pockets and not a nine millimeter.

"Great." She nodded and leaned back against the door. "Why isn't there anything to worry about?"

"No more shooting. Marco will be back soon, they grasp," he smiled as he said the word, "the situation."

"The situation?"

"Mr. Alcazar."

"Oh."

"So who are they? The shooters."

"Rebels. Soldiers. Police." He shrugged.

"Great. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Wonderful."

"Fire?"

"It's dangerous here."

"Yes," he nodded, agreeing.

"No." Emily whipped around and stared at the man walked down the hill behind them. She remembered seeing after the flight to Venezuela, but at some point between staring at the landscape and talking with her father she'd lost track of him. "The compound is perfectly safe."

"Yeah," she nodded, unconvinced. Grateful, and somewhat guilty for feeling that way, that she wouldn't have to deal with anymore broken English she turned to talk to the younger man.

"They didn't know who they were shooting at," he bent down in front of her and picked her brace up off the ground. "It's a new car. It won't be happening again and you will not be traveling in a car that the people don't recognize again. It should not have happened this time."

"Thanks," she took the brace and slid her arm back into it. "So what happens now?"

"We leave. They won't be coming back for a while." The younger man with murky black eyes gestured toward the driver and the older man slid back into the car.

"So how longer have you worked for the Alcazar's?"

"A while," he reached around her and opened the door. "Get in."

"Right," she let the word drawl out as she climbed into the backseat of the limo and was met with her father comfortably relaxing. "I suppose you expected this."

"It happens."

"Right. It happens. Thanks for the warning."

"I was not expecting any problems tonight. It's not late enough for people to be traveling back from the city and it's too late for them to be traveling to the city. Cars aren't usually accosted at this time of night. It will not happen again."

"Yeah, that's was the very personable body guard said."

"Ah," he nodded as if he completely understood her sarcasm. "You've met Marco, Vincent's grandson."

"Grandson? How did that sweet guy father someone who fathered that…not sweet guy?"

"Marco is a very serious you man, but he is also very good at his job. He will be your guard while you're here."

"Wonderful. Anything else you forgot to mention?"

"Not that I can remember, but things have a tendency to come up so we'll deal with it all as it happens."

She narrowed her eyes and shot him her best aggravated look. "You know you're kind of an ass?"

"I do, yes."

She laughed as the car pitched forward and they were on their way again, "Just what I need. Jason Morgan version two point oh."

He only grinned as she turned away from him and dropped her head onto the seat behind her.

* * *

* FYI: Vyacheslav Ivankov is a real person. He was extradited to Russia 2004 on murder charges and was found not guilty. He is supposedly America's most powerful _vor v zakone_ or theif-in-law. And he's got some pretty powerful connections within the Russian government. He won't really be a character in my story, but I thought it would be interesting to add a little 'truth' to my fanfic. LOL.


	27. Chapter TwentySeven

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never will.

Authors Notes: I am so sorry this has taken so long to get post. Honestly, and I hate to say this, it's been written for a few months now. I'm about three chapters ahead at this point so the next few uploads should be coming much, much, much quicker than they ever have before. We are, believe it or not, nearing the end of this story. (I sure as hell can't believe it.) I actually have a reworked version of Identity that I am doing a lot of writing for now. I hope to actually start posting it soon and, if all goes well, it will go much more smoothly than TRLT has.

The truth of the matter is that I am _finally_ in my last year of college (English and Political Science major) so I am going to put as much work as possible into finishing this (which I'm not so worried about) and Identity before I graduate in May, because I really don't think there will be any writing after that. Unless, in the next year, I get much, much better and can actually finds someone to pay me for it. *smiles* Anyway, here is the next chapter of TRLT: read on…

* * *

"Katia Alcazar." She felt the man who she now knew as her biological father walk up behind her and figured if either of them was going to break the silence then it might as well be her, especially since they were standing at what should have been her headstone.

"Sophie and I did not discuss names. She was worried that it would be a bad omen considering…"

Emily nodded. "Considering you'd already lost one child."

"Yes."

"And so you picked out a name." She didn't wait for an answer, only kneeled down, collected the bouquet of orchids at her feet, and turned to look at him. "A least they aren't roses."

"My mother," he reached over and took half of them from her hands, laid them back in front of the headstone. "Roses do not appeal to her."

"I can see that. What's up with her, by the way?"

"Up with?"

Emily laughed, she was pretty sure he understood the colloquialism and she was definitely sure he understood that there was something off about his mother. "She cornered me on the stairs this morning told me to stay away from some guy name Jonas because he gets a little touchy with the young lady's."

Lorenzo nodded and look out across his father's land. They'd had the headstone made a month after the car bombing that he believed took the lives of his wife and daughter. It wasn't until after they'd found what was left of Sophie's wedding rings in the pile of rubble that he allowed himself to accept they were really gone.

"Should I?"

"I'm sorry?" He turned back to her.

"Watch out for Jonas? Should I?"

"No." He deadpanned, utterly serious now. "He's been dead for three years."

"Oh. Well…that's…I don't know what that is. Does she think he's dangerous to young women's purity even dead or did she forget he was dead?"

"Either one is a possibility. She's been like this since Luis died. Sometimes she's very lucid and aware of what is happening, other times…" he trailed off and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Yeah, you say that, and obviously thinking a dead guy is alive falls under not lucid or aware, but sometimes she seems to be completely coherent if not a little manipulative. Like the comment this morning about your father and what was her name—Delia?—that seemed to be pretty pointed."

"Yes," Lorenzo distinctly remembered the conversation from breakfast that morning, especially the part where his mother accused his father of having an affair with one of the young maids.

"So, is it true?" He watched, amazed and she crossed one leg in front of the other, lowered herself to the ground, and stared up at him, her tawny eyes shining with suppressed laughter.

"What?"

"Come on! Is your father playing hide the broomstick with one of the maids?"

"Is he…" He trailed off and scrubbed his hands over his face.

"Oh my God, you are him." She pointed an accusing finger and laughed as his eyes widened comically.

"Him?" Lorenzo twisted to his left then his right, unsure of what she was talking about. "Who?"

"Jason. You are Jason Morgan, right down to the face scrubbing. It's sort of freaky."

"Yes, well—"

"Nuh-uh, no way are you not answering the question. Is it possible? Your father and…"

"That my father is having a relationship with one of the maids? Yes."

"A relationship? I believe your mother's exact words were fu—"

"Yes," Lorenzo interrupted. "I was there."

"Well it's good to know my parents aren't the only ones who can't keep it in their pants."

"Parents?"

"What? You missed the eyebrow raise from your father and the comment about the landscaper?"

"That is not what my father meant, my mother would never…" He trailed off as Emily doubled over with laughter. "My mother would never have an affair."

"Of course not. Absolutely. I'm sure your father is running around screwing all the maids and your mother is just taking it…she really seems like the type." She smiled and tried her best to keep from laughing as she noticed what could only be described as a pout forming on his face. "Listen, I'm sorry. I'm sure your mother is a perfectly fine lady, but your father isn't exactly young and if he's sleeping with one of the maids then he certainly isn't giving your mother what she needs. And neither of your parents is dead so…"

"Yes. I understand. Is there something else you'd rather talk about?"

"Sure," she patted the ground next to him and only scrunched up her face in annoyance with he looked down at her, confused. "Sit."

"I'd rather not."

"Too afraid to get your overpriced suit dirty?"

"No…I just. I don't like to sit _there_."

"On the ground," she looked around puzzled.

"In front of the headstone."

"Why? No one is actually buried here." When he only shook his head and continued standing she heaved herself up off the ground, took his hand in hers, and moved them both to the granite bench that was a few feet away. "Better?"

"Yes."

"Okay. What takes a year?" she asked. She decided that if he was going to share his life, this place, with her then she might as well share some of her problems with him, especially if he could help solve them.

"Is this some sort of joke?"

She thought about that for a second and smiled. "No. I'm missing a year of my life, I'm sure you've figure that out already. I'm actually twenty-four; I thought I was twenty-three. I need to know where that year went. What takes a year? Making new identities? Hiding from Andrejs? What?"

"Do you know what year you are missing?" He'd been considering this himself and hadn't come up with anything.

"No. No idea, but I'd say it's been at least fifteen years, if not longer since this missing year. So…"

"At that time it may have taken longer to create new identities for you and your mother, especially if Andrejs was looking for her."

"Yeah, I thought about that too, but why would she stay in Arizona? I mean that's where I always remember living. Arizona. Before Daniel died, after he died, until she died. Not in the same town or anything, but still Arizona. Why would she take the risk? It couldn't have just been hiding in plain sight, right?"

"I would assume. Your mother was very intelligent and she would know that staying in Arizona would not necessarily keep Andrejs from finding her. I would tend to agree with you, there had to be another reason. Maybe she did not want you to have to move around too much, she was always talking about settling down, making roots."

"So what would keep a mother who was willing to fake her death to keep her child safe in a place where they might both get hurt? Other than making roots? Assurance?"

"Of what?"

"That Andrejs wouldn't find her, that he couldn't do anything to her if he did find her. I don't know. Maybe…maybe Stefan, but I don't think so…" She trailed off and they both stared down, neither of them aware of the simultaneous sway of their feet, their identical posture, and the focused look on their faces which clearly branded them as father and daughter.

"I had asthma." She turned to look at him and shrugged. "When I was little, I had pretty bad asthma. Dry desert air is supposed to be good for that sort of thing. Right?"

"Why don't you have it now?"

"Don't know. Guess I grew out of it."

"Is that something you grow out of?"

"Beats me. How should I know? I just remember having these horrible attacks when I was younger and then…"

"Yes?"

"They were just sort of gone."

"When was this?"

She laughed, why hadn't she noticed it before? Desert air may or may not have been good for asthma, but panic attacks, fear, to a child her age could easily be explained away as asthma instead of and underlying understanding of what was going on in her home. So maybe she never had asthma, maybe she'd just been anxious all the time. "When Daniel died. When I was six. So I guess that doesn't explain why she stayed. Dammit. I need my medical records."

"Why."

"Because it may just be one year that I'm missing, but there are four years I don't—can't remember. I don't remember my life before Daniel Bowen." She shook her head, disgusted with herself. Most of the time she didn't think about the fact that Daniel hadn't come into her life until she was three, she hadn't even realized the fact until the FBI decided to give her that little tidbit of information. Who remembered their lives from one to three? Nobody. Right? "My mom didn't marry him—or whatever—until I was three years old. That was one of the few things that the FBI told me about, one of the things I didn't remember. So where was she before that? Under Andrejs' protection? Where? And why when I was three? What happened at that time?"

"_Blood rites_."

"Excuse me?"

"You don't know." It wasn't a question, and he shouldn't have been surprised. There seem to be any number of things that his daughter did not understand about her own life.

He hadn't thought about the ritual, hadn't even considered it because he didn't think there was any way it could have been performed, but how hard would it have been to get to him at that time? How hard… "It is an archaic and irrational ritual that your grandfather believed in very much. It was passed down through generations of his family, generations of many Russian families. When a child is three they are given a small cut on their wrist, their parents are also cut and the blood of the mother, father, and child are mixed together. It is supposed to speak to the purity of the child. Supposed to assure that the child has only the best qualities, what the family believes are the best qualities, of both parents. Your mother had a very small scar on her right wrist from hers. When she was cut she flinched, as children are known to do, and was sliced from the middle of the bottom of her wrist to the middle of the top."

"So what? She left because she couldn't do it or because…"

"Because Andrejs wanted to do it. It would have been done to him and whatever else he may be, Andrejs Nikolai is a believer in ritual and tradition."

"But how could he have gotten your blood? Did you donate or something?"

"No and it has to be taken directly from both parents blood stream and put directly into the child, the Nikolai's have a blade just for the occasion."

She nodded, finally understanding. "I'm guessing that Andrejs didn't expect you to just roll up your sleeve, get sliced, drip the blood into me, and be on your way."

"No, I would expect not."

"He would have killed you for it."

"Certainly."

"So I guess the question now is how did she get out of it? How did she get him to agree not only not to perform the ritual, but also to let her go? I'm sure that Daniel Bowen was the price she paid, but I can't see that being it. Not when he had nothing to lose."

"But he might have had something to lose."

"What?"

"The _blood rite_ is also how the families used to decide succession and inheritance. If your grandfather was as specific in his will as he was in life then I would wager that there was something in it about the _blood rite_ and what happened when it was given to his first born grandchild."

"Me." She smiled. "And being so big on tradition, Andrejs might have actually convinced himself he had to go along with it, but if my pedigree, so to speak, was never proven then it wouldn't matter. There would be no point in him worrying."

"Precisely."

"Would it be of any use to him now...? My blood."

"Because you think he took some out of you when he kidnapped you?" Lorenzo nodded, he'd also been considering this. "I don't know what it would be. When your grandfather died we didn't have much of the technology we have now, there would be nothing that it was useful for then that it could be useful for now. Except DNA."

"And he'd have to be sure, Andrejs. He'd need to sure, wouldn't he, that I am my mother's daughter."

"Yes. And it is possible that he would have something with her DNA on it, which may be the only reason he took your blood."

"May be, but then why not yank out a hair? Why blood?"

"Blood tells."

"Yeah," she laughed. "I keep hearing that."

"He would take it seriously. The man keeps a vial of his own stored in a bank vault."

"His own blood…" She thought about that and something kept bothering her, kept itching at her brain. "Why did my grandfather keep Andrejs around even after realizing how screwed up he was?"

"Loyalty. Andrejs was the son of one of your grandfather's men."

"Yeah, I heard that story, but he didn't run around adopting the children of his other employees that died or marrying their widows, why did he do it this time? Why Andrejs? When did my grandmother die, before or after Andrejs would have been born?"

"Before and no," he'd also traveled this particular road and he could see no reason, other than loyalty, for his wife's father to keep Andrejs around, "your grandfather would not have had an affair. Your mother's parents were not my parents or even your own, they were very much in love and very faithful from what I understand."

"Something here, I just don't know what it is. There is some piece of the puzzle that we have that we just aren't putting in the right place…I know we have it, I can feel it. Like a _Where's Waldo_ book. You know he's there, you've probably even seen him on the page, but you can't quite pinpoint him until you zero in on the right part of the puzzle. We just aren't zeroing in on the right part yet. All this leads back to blood somehow. Everything."

"I would tend to agree, especially with Andrejs' pension for spectacle, but there are quite a few things I did not know about your mother's family."

Emily laughed, it was ironic really, that she knew where she'd have to get all her answers from. "I'm betting Andrejs knows a lot about the Nikolai's though, doesn't he? Even the stuff that happened before he was born. I'm betting he's the kind of guy that would have gone back into the history of the family as much as possible and that was probably a lot easier twenty-five, thirty years ago. As a matter of fact, I'll add one more bet to that, I'll also bet that the biggest reason we're having so much trouble with it now is that after he found out what he needed to know he either destroyed documents, birth records, things like that, or he hid them. What do you think?"

"You are probably right, and Simon would be very helpful with that."

"His lackey. What can you tell me about him?"

"Again, very little. When we were young there was no reason to look into his background and I've found that now it is nearly wiped of much of the information that we need. I do not even know who his family is." He turned to her and watched as her face creased with a question. "What?"

"Is that normal? For someone to be that involved in the business, I mean this guy is connected to the Nikolai's and the Cassadine', right? So how could he be that connected, even as a child, and yet no one knows where he comes from? He didn't just drop out of the sky did he? And he certainly didn't just fall into Andrejs' lap, there had to be some sort of connection there. So what is it?"

"I don't—"

"I wasn't asking you," she interrupted and jumped up off the bench to pace around it. "I'm thinking, about being kidnapped by them, about how something about it was familiar. Like I was being analyzed, I've felt that before."

"Yes, you mentioned that the American FBI used similar tactics." Tactics he hadn't yet decided if he was going to let go unpunished. There was very little he could do to the Bureau itself, but there was quite a lot he could do to those directly involved with kidnapping his daughter from the only life she'd known and setting her on this path. However, he was a pragmatic man and fully aware that if they had not kidnapped her then he may never have known of her existence.

"No, I mean yes, but there is something else. An intensity…" She'd been racking her brain since the kidnapping trying to figure out what about it seemed so familiar and now she was almost there, the connection was right on the tip of her brain. If only she had someone to sit her down again, to go through the problem with her like was done in her… "My FBI training."

"Excuse me."

"There was a man brought in, at first I thought he was a therapist or something and he'd just sit and watch me for hours and talk about nothing, but that wasn't what he was there for. He was there to show me, to teach me things about human nature. He was someone who used to work for the mob and a million other bad people and somehow the FBI brought him down, but that's not the point. The day, hanging in the room, that's the feeling I got, like I was back with him being observed and graded and taught. That's the connection." She dug in her pants pocket and pulled out her phone, before Lorenzo even had time to comment she was dialing the number.

"Hey, David. It's me." She rolled her eyes and gave Lorenzo and exaggerated look of annoyance. "Emily. Yes, Quartermaine. Listen, I need something from you…No, I don't have Nikolai yet. If you would just listen. Shut up…Yes, I'm talking to you. I need you to do something for me. Are you listening? Good. Find me Viktor. Yes, _that_ Viktor. Alright, call me back at this number." Emily hung up the phone and turned back to Lorenzo.

"Viktor?"

"The man who helped…instruct me. Have you ever heard the name before?"

"The name certainly, though I don't have any particular connections with anyone named Viktor."

"Yeah, didn't figure you would have. It's probably not even his real name and if it is I don't know his last name so I need the FBI for this, but that's not the point. The point is that this guy, Viktor, he trained some of the old school hitters and I'm betting that he crossed paths with Simon Morris at some point."

"You believe that is the connection you felt in the room?"

"Yeah, it could be because Viktor trained us both or it could be because either Simon or Andrejs was observing like Viktor used to, but I know there is a connection there."

He looked up at her amazed, even if she was wrong, and he was quite sure that she wasn't, it was an interesting brain that could make a connection that small between two seemingly unconnected men. He certainly would not have figured it out that quickly and, though he loved her mother, he wasn't sure Sophie would have either. So where did she get the insight from: her family, her brother, Sonny Corinthos, the FBI? Who taught her to think of things in such a non-linear manner?

"What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm impressed and curious."

"Oh." She sat back down, the adrenaline in her veins was screaming at her to run or fight, do something to get rid of the pent up aggression and energy. "Why curious?"

"The way you think is interesting if not somewhat frenzied. Yet there is control there. I was wondering who else you know who thinks like that."

"Oh. I don't know. Lucky maybe, he can be a little hyper sometimes. Nobody really, I guess. My grandfather says it's because I spent so many of my teenage years trying to dodge family arguments, so now I have to keep moving and find a logical answer to a question as soon as possible or I'll end up following someone else's road instead of my own."

"Were they hard on you?"

"The Quartermaines? No, not really. To be honest, I was a little out of control at times. I mean I got addicted to drugs, dated guys they didn't approve of—that no sane parent would approve of—got kidnapped, stuff like that. They were just really overprotective or really under-protective, depending on the situation. I think since AJ and Jason's lives, according to the Quartermaines, got so screwed up, they thought they had to stop mine from getting screwed up too. It was really hard for a while there. AJ and Jason were fighting over Michael, the family waffled back and forth over whose side to take, and then Carly died…there were just a lot of things all going on at once. They wanted to protect me; unfortunately the best way they knew to do that was to smoother me or pay me no attention at all. Like I said, it was hard."

"And now?"

"And now…" She shook her head and looked down at her hands and then lifted them up and spread her fingers. "Now, who knows? There's something brewing under the surface between Jason and AJ and I don't know what it is. And, if you really want the truth, I don't have the energy to care right now. I'll find out when they are ready to tell me."

"They don't get along?"

"That's an understatement." She blew out a breath and looked over at him. She wasn't sure why she was suddenly Miss Open, but what the hell? It wasn't like she'd told him anything he could use against anyone but her. Everyone who knew Jason or AJ could probably see the trouble brewing between them from a mile away. "Here's the issue: AJ wants the family's approval and can't get it, Jason could care less if he had their approval and he does get it, which pisses AJ off. The truth is that my father finally learned what my brother never will, the only way to get Edward Quartermaine's appreciation, or any other Quartermaine for that matter, is not to ask for it. AJ will forever be asking and it bothers him that Jason doesn't want or need it, but he gets it. What he doesn't see is that it wouldn't matter either way, AJ is too much like Alan—except my father has finally stopped searching for his father's approval—and Jason is too much like grandfather. I guess it's just what you deal with in any family, except amplified."

"I see."

Emily laughed and shook her head, "You really don't, but that's okay." She stopped and thought about it for a second. What was she going to do if whatever was going on between Jason and AJ actually had something to do with Ric Lansing and his father? She knew, though she hadn't said it out loud, that it couldn't possibly just be a coincidence that the Lansing's came to town at the same time that tensions began to rise between AJ and Jason again. Hell, if she hadn't known any better she would think that it was… "Shit. Shit, shit, shit."

"I'm sorry," Lorenzo cocked his head to the side to stare at her. "Is there a problem?"

"I…I don't know." She looked across the Alcazar property and back to the main house. "Umm…would you mind…can I have a few minutes to myself and then I'll make my way up to the main house for dinner? It's just…I need to make a call and this one is really more about someone else than it is about me and I don't think they'd appreciate me talking about them with you here. I don't mean to be—"

"Certainly." He stood, dusted off his black slacks, and lightly ran his hand down the side of her face. "Whenever you're ready, come in."

"Thanks." She smiled after him as she watched him walk away and wondered if maybe she was betraying the father who'd spent more than ten years of her life raising her. She loved Alan, with all her heart, but there was baggage with him, with all the Quartermaines, and none of it existed with Lorenzo Alcazar. That baggage was, certainly, part of being a member of any family, especially one as dysfunctional as the Quartermaines, but she was suddenly beginning to realize that starting over with Lorenzo Alcazar may not be as hard as she once thought.

She watched him disappear into the main house and pulled out her phone, dialed the number.

"_Spencer."_

"Hey Spencer," she smiled into the phone and leaned back into the bench.

"_What's up? How's the air down there?"_

Emily scrunched up her face and shook her head, "I don't know, but that sounded a little perverted so I'm just gonna ignore it. Listen…where are you right now?"

"_Walkin' out of Eli's. I got me and Gia ribs for dinner."_

"Great. Where is Sonny?"

"_Uh, at the warehouse. Why do I have the feeling that whatever you're calling for is going to get my girlfriend and my boss pissed at me?"_

"Well, it is going to get your girlfriend pissed at you, assuming you were supposed to take that dinner straight home, but if we're lucky it'll only get your boss pissed at me. And that's only if he's in a stubborn mood. Is Spinelli at Sonny's?"

"_Yeah, Sonny's got the little hacker watching Bella. Which I'm not so sure is a good idea. I don't think I'd leave someone who smokes as much pot as that kid must, to be in the mood he's in all the time, around my little sister."_

"Why not? You let your father around her. And really, isn't that worse?"

"_Yeah, well, I got no choice about that. It's Grandma Leslie that thinks he should spend time with her."_

"Whatever, go to Sonny's and have Spinelli look up something for me. Stay with him until he's done."

"_Why can't you just call him?"_

She heard the whine in his voice and was tempted to make fun, but she knew that if she did then he'd be less likely to do what she wanted. "Because I need him to do this and I need him to believe that if he tells Sonny then you're gonna do him serious bodily harm. I'd do it myself, but _someone_ suggested that I be exiled to Venezuela, so I can't."

"_Yeah, you realize that isn't going to work forever."_

"Is it going to work now?"

"_Yeah, sure. I'll call Gia and tell her to go visit her brother, he's been making noise about her not coming around enough anyway."_

"Great, tell him to search for Ric Lansing's birth records, anything he can find. I want to know if Sonny's mother was around when he was born."

"_Uh…Em…Are you sure this is a good idea."_

She could hear the hesitation in his voice and it made her want to smile, even after all these years there was still a little part of him that was scared of Sonny. So cute. "Yes, very sure, do you get where I'm going with this?"

"_Yeah, but—"_

"Listen, if Sonny was thinking about this clearly then he'd be doing it himself, okay? Hopefully we'll find out that she left before the kid was born or years after or something, but we need to know. This could be why they hate him so much."

"_Yeah, I don't get that, but I'll check."_

"I'd think that you of all people would know what sibling rivalry can do to people, especially if one of your parents happens to hate your brother and the other left said brother with a psychopath. Get me?"

"_Yeah, I got you. Geez, you really think that this is what's going on. Ric Lansing is Sonny's brother?"_

"I don't know, but it would make sense. Think about you and Nikolas when he first came to town or Jason and AJ now. Have you seen Ric Lansing around Sonny? It's exactly like that. I think I didn't see it earlier because I was so busy worried about everything else."

"_And you're sure you see it now?"_

She shook her head, annoyed that he wasn't with her to see the look on her face. To see how serious she was about this. "Yes, I'm sure and no, before you even think about asking, this isn't about Jason or AJ or whatever is going on between them…"

"_Ah, Em…"_

She could hear in his voice that he knew exactly what was going on, but decided to ignore it. "Don't worry about it Luck, one or the other of them will tell me when their ready. Or hell, I'll find out after one has been arrested for trying to beat the crap out of the other. Some things never change."

"_They really were good for a while."_

"Yeah," she nodded. She knew that, had been impressed by it and was sad to have missed it. "I know, but it never lasts Lucky. Just…just go see Spinelli and have him look this stuff up for me okay? I can only deal with one crappy brotherly relationship at a time and I'm almost sure that the one between Ric and Sonny will be the more dangerous one right now. Got me?"

"_Yeah. Got you. Now go get a tan or something."_

"Sure. Call me back ASAP."

"_Always. Bye, brat."_

He hung up and she shook her head as she shoved the cell phone into her back pocket and started her walk back to the main house, "Bye."

* * *

"Hey," Lucky walked through Sonny's penthouse door and let it slam closed behind him, "Where's the midget?"

"The..oh, oh. Baby Sir."

"Baby, sir?"

"Yes, Mister Sir's little sister."

Lucky shook his head and sat down on the couch next to Spinelli, "Right. Whatever. Where is she?"

"Uh, oh, right. She's in the kitchen with the domestic goddess, Leticia, making brownies."

"Great. Emily called; she needs you to look something up for her."

A grin split across Spinelli's face and he nodded enthusiastically, "Sure, anything for Misses Sir."

"_Misses Sir_? God. The Baby Sir thing is kind of cute, but if either Sonny or Jason hears you calling Emily Misses Sir you are gonna be spending the next couple of days collecting what's left of your teeth up off of the ground. And if Emily hears it then teeth won't be a worry because you'll quite simply be dead."

"Oh well, Mrs. Stone Cold didn't have a problem with…"

"Wait? Mrs. Stone Cold. That would be…who?"

"Umm, Brenda? Is that her given name?"

"Yeah. So if she's Mrs. Stone Cold then that would make Jason…"

"Stone Cold."

"Right, you've really gotta chill on the pot kid. It's frying your brain cells."

"Oh, well, I would never—"

"Try it with someone who doesn't know any better, I'm not interested. I need you to look for Ric Lansing's birth certificate or whatever and tell me if a woman named Adella was working for his family at the time of his birth, can you do that?"

"Does the woman in question woman have a last name?"

"Do you have to have it?"

"It depends, I guess."

"On what?"

"Taxes, social security, payroll…" Spinelli started listing things off and before he was halfway through he could see Lucky's eyes glazing over. "It just depends."

"Right, whatever, just look into the records and tell me." Lucky watched the kid boot up the computer, start to type, and then hesitate. "What?"

"Well, it's just, if I knew exactly what I was looking for then I might be able to do this faster. I know, uh, I know that I'm new and you have not had time to test my loyalty yet, but I wouldn't do anything to hurt Little Bella or her formidable big brother, Mister Sir."

Lucky shook his head and groaned. The kid would probably figure it out anyway and they didn't have long before Sonny got home. "I need to know if this woman, Adella, is Ric Lansing's mother and what her relationship with Trevor Lansing was. Can you find that information out for me without being weird?"

"Yes, of course. Uh, I should tell you…well you should know…I know that Mister Sir's mothers name was Adella." Spinelli suddenly became interested in the dirt under his fingernails and after a few seconds looked up at Lucky from beneath his lashes.

"Fine. Whatever. Look-up the information."

Spinelli nodded solemnly and got to work doing what he was good at: hacking. Both men sat quietly, listening to the keys of the computer crackle as the younger man's fingers skimmed quickly across the board.

"What got you started at this?" Lucky leaned back, rested his arms behind his head, and waited for the answer.

"Oh, well, I was just always good with computers; they speak to me like…I don't know. I mean, I guess, I can see it, you know? The internet and code and everything is just running through my head all the time. My grandma used to say that I think in ones and zeros."

"Your grandma?"

"Uh, yeah. That was actually how I met Samantha. Her father tried to con Grandma Spinelli out of money and Sam helped me put an end to his devious activities."

"Why?"

"I…I don't know. I think, I guess, everybody loved my Gran. She was the best person I ever knew."

"She died?"

"Yeah, she had a heart attack and Sam took me in after that. Took care of me."

"So you two are like family now?"

Spinelli turned to Lucky, surprise and delight glowing in his eyes. "Yes, well, I suppose we are. Yes. We are."

Lucky shook his head and smiled. He wondered if that was the first time the kid actually considered the fact that Sam taking care of him when she didn't have to was very much something a family member would do. He also wondered, though it wasn't really his business, why the kid wasn't off somewhere with his mother or father instead of living with Sam McCall after his grandmother died. Not his business.

"Okay, okay, okay. This might be something."

Lucky leaned forward to look over Spinelli's shoulder. "What might be something?"

"A picture. Look." Spinelli turned the computer so that Lucky could see the picture. It was of Trevor Lansing and Adella, both very dressed up with their arms wrapped around each other and a caption that read: _Trevor Lansing and an unknown woman purported to be his fiancé. _

"Well, isn't that interesting." Lucky stared at the picture for a few seconds and then asked, "Is there any way we can enhance the picture?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Why?"

"Does she look pregnant to you?"

"I…" Spinelli took a harder look at the picture and shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe?"

Spinelli and Lucky smashed their head together as both of them jumped when the penthouse door was opened. "What are you doing here?" Sonny took off his jacket and threw it over the chair at his desk as he stared at Lucky.

"Well…I was, uh…"

"Sonny!" Bella ran out of the kitchen and flew into her brother arms, never thinking, even for a second, that he wouldn't be able to catch her. "We're making brownies."

"Yes," Sonny reached up and swiped a little of the chocolate off of her face, licked it off his finger, "I see."

She giggled and squirmed out of his arms; as soon as she hit the ground she turned and hopped up onto the couch between Spinelli and Lucky. Both men moved over to accommodate her. "Whatcha doing?"

"I asked the same thing."

Bella started to lean over to play with Spinelli's computer, but abruptly stopped when she saw the picture on the screen. "That's him."

Sonny was up out of his seat and moving Spinelli out of the way before Bella even got the words out of her mouth. "Who?"

"The man," she continued pointing at the screen even as she snuggled under her big brother's arms for protection. "The man who threatened my mom and hit her when I was hiding in the closet. You remember, I told you about him."

"Yeah," Sonny look at the picture and then glared over his little sister's shoulder at Lucky. "I remember. Can you do me a favor darling," he took her cherub face in his hand as she turned to look up at him. "Can you go back into the kitchen and finish helping Leticia?"

"I don't—"

"I promise to come in and help you later. Okay? I just need to talk with Lucky and Spinelli for a little while."

Bella looked between the three men and nodded solemnly as she slipped off of the couch, "Okay."

"What is that?"

"Uh Mister Sir that is, if I may, a picture of…" Spinelli trailed off as Sonny turned to stare at him. "Uh, well, maybe Un—maybe Lucky should tell you."

"Em called me," Lucky looked over at Spinelli, sure the kid was about to call him UnLucky again. "She had a lead she wanted me to chase down and I needed Spinelli's help to do it. I didn't really give him a choice."

"And she didn't really give you one."

"Didn't need to. I thought, and still think, that she was right."

"Okay. About what?"

"Ric Lansing being your brother. She figured, and I agree, that Ric is the child of Trevor Lansing and your mother."

"And neither of you thought to talk to me about this?"

"Yes we thought about it and decided not to."

"Oh," Sonny puffed out a laughed that Lucky didn't for one second believe was friendly. "You decided, did you? When did you start deciding things about my organization?"

"This wasn't about the organization Sonny, or not just about the organization. Emily brought up the point, and it's a good one, that you would have thought of this already if you weren't so close to the situation. Just like she would have realized she needed to leave town for a while if she hadn't been so close to the situation. She's just doing what we did, seeing a problem and correcting it."

"And you also thought you could bring in someone from outside to organization to help you prove this point."

Now Lucky was getting annoyed, he'd dealt, rightfully, with a lot of Sonny's crap over the years, but this was getting ridiculous. He'd been moved up and he was getting sick of being treated like some lackey who guarded the door. "You have him watching your little sister; if you don't trust him then maybe you should rethink that. Emily put me on this track and, obviously, she was right and if you have a problem with that then take it up with her. Also, if you have a problem with me using Spinelli then he shouldn't be here at all."

Sonny thought about it for a second and nodded. "Fine. What are we looking at?"

"A picture of Trevor Lansing and your mother, I think she may be pregnant in it. What do you think?"

He suddenly remembered the look on her face as they packed to leave a house he couldn't quite place. He remembered her stomach growing and her face getting wider, though he'd never equated those things with the possibility if pregnancy before. He always figured it was because she was between men at the time. His mother, as much has a loved her, did not do well without a man in her life and so any health problems or physical changes in would have seen in her at the time probably would have been chalked up to the fact that his father had once again left her alone, with a child to raise. But now that he thought about it...Could she have been pregnant? "Probably."

"So what broke them up, do you know?"

"No. Deke maybe? When, exactly, is this from?"

"Don't know." Lucky turned to Spinelli. "Can you tell?"

"Uh, not exactly. There is no date, but I found it in some old newspaper files and so I can guess that it's from thirty to forty years ago, probably closer to thirty-five. Does that help?"

"Yeah." Sonny looked a Lucky. "That helps. Go in the kitchen with Bella and Leticia. Eat a few brownies or something."

"Uh, yes, Mister Sir. Certainly."

Sonny leaned back into the couch and scrubbed his hands over his face. "What do you think?"

"I think we have a problem. A big one."

"Yeah," Sonny nodded, pulled out his phone, and dialed a number he'd been thinking about calling for hours—though for a completely different reason. When Emily answered he smiled dangerously and Lucky carefully slinked out of the room and out of the line of fire, "Hello, sweetheart, was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"


	28. Chapter TwentyEight

Title: The Road Less Traveled

Author: Christy AKA FallenAngel AKA Girlfearless

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never will.

Authors Note: I keep promising to get these out sooner and then I don't, so this time I won't even bother. I'll just say I'm doing my best and leave it at that. Sorry.

* * *

How many years, Emily thought as she carefully pushed open the sliding door that led to the back of the Alcazar property. How many years had she been Edward Quartermaine's granddaughter? Too many to fall for something so simple, so obvious. She'd been dealing with an overbearing, lying grandparent for years and yet it had taken her this long to figure out what it was about Katia Alcazar that seemed so familiar. The old woman was good; she had to give her that, but not quite good enough.

"Hello darling."

Emily smiled at her grandmother and sat down in the chair next to her. She'd been staring, for days, at pictures of the family, trying to see a resemblance in the eyes, the coloring, the shape of her nose, anything, but all she'd come away with was a tension headache and more questions. Especially after she learned to tell Luis and Lorenzo Alcazar apart. "Hello Mrs. Alcazar…"

"Oh, call me grandmother. I always wanted someone to call me that, and now I have two granddaughters. What an interesting time this has been."

Emily wanted to laugh at the woman's syrup-sweet demeanor. Especially since the night before she'd heard her yelling at one of the maids—the one she'd accused of sleeping with her husband, no doubt—about the lack of precise hospital corners on the beds in the house. Idle hands, Emily thought, and shook her head. "Grandmother. Would you mind if I asked you a question or two."

Katia's eyebrows winged up and not even she was able to hide the interest behind the humor shinning in her eyes. "Oh, certainly. About your father? Your mother? What would you like to know?"

"Actually I wanted you to tell me about my grandfather. Did you know him?"

"Of course darling," she patted Emily's hand condescendingly, "I married him."

"No," Emily wasn't dumb enough to believe that the woman actually misunderstood what was going on, but if her grandmother wanted to play this game for a little longer then she was all for it. She'd learned from the best, and now that she knew what to look for, Katia Alcazar's manipulations couldn't touch Edward Quartermaine's. "I meant my mother's father. How much do you remember about him?"

"Oh."

Emily could tell that her grandmother want to say nothing, that she wanted to pretend that she had no idea what Emily was talking about, but they both knew the truth and if there was one thing that either of them had learned in their lifetimes it was that there was no better interrogator than a woman on a mission—and Emily planned on accomplishing that mission.

Katia shrugged her shoulders in a quick and decidedly ungraceful movement, smiled at her new-found granddaughter. "You are a smart one aren't you?"

"That's what they tell me, but they could be lying."

"Oh no, darling, they aren't. What would you like to know about your mother's father?"

"I'd like to know if he had a brother."

"And what else would you like to know about Alexander and Viktor?"

Emily leaned forward in her chair, suddenly much more interested in the direction of the conversation. She hadn't necessarily expected to get any real information this time around, she just wanted to plant a few seeds and see if they grew, but this was more than she could have hoped for even months down the line. "Did you just say Viktor?"

"Yes, of course I did." Katia smiled and tipped her head at her granddaughter. "Interesting. I thought you already had it figure out, but you didn't. You had no clue."

"No." Viktor. Hadn't she always seen something in his eyes when he was training her, a sort of pride that was out of place, even for an instructor? And now she knew why, or thought she did. It was ironic really, that the FBI had hired her own great-uncle to train her. Of course it was also a little sick, especially considering some of the things he'd taught her. She wondered, briefly, if they knew who he was when they recruited him. She wondered if they knew who he was now. "I thought that he was Simon's father."

"Viktor." This time Katia let out a full bodied laugh. "Who's to say he isn't."

"What do you mean?" And yet again, she was tumbling down the rabbit hole.

"No one, at least no one that I know, ever really met your grandfather's brother, he could be anyone. He could be anywhere. Alive or dead. Too bad we didn't think of that."

Emily ignored her grandmother's last comment as the older woman leaned back into her chair and shot her a triumphant look. "How do you know this and your husband and sons don't?"

"Your mother was very careful about whom she spoke about her family to, she saw no reason to inform your father or anyone else of these things, but she understood that someone needed to know."

"What else did she tell you?"

"Most everything, darling. Now," the older woman leaned forward, picked up her glass of wine, and carefully took a sip, "let's get down to business. You ask any question you can think of and I'll answer."

"Wait a second, just…wait." All this time and pain and the woman sitting in front of her apparently had the answers for years, decades even. "Okay, let's just…let's start at the beginning."

"Yes, certainly."

"Did my mother tell you what she was going to do?"

"Yes. I helped her do it."

Emily blew out a breath and tilted her head back, staring up at the sky. "Why?"

"It was the only way. My son—"

"Luis."

"Yes, Luis. It was becoming nearly impossible to control him, his anger, and I certainly was not willing to risk your life or the life of my daughter-in-law to his impertinence."

"So you helped her fake her death. Break this down for me, how did you go from my son is dangerous to I'm going to fake the death of my daughter-in-law and granddaughter and let my other son spend the rest of his life mourning the loss? Why not warn Lorenzo or your husband?"

"Neither your mother nor I were willing to risk telling your father, it would not have ended well. I would have lost one of my sons long before I should have—I'd already lost a grandson. I wasn't willing to risk it."

"You weren't willing to risk a lot, were you? Never mind the damage that came from your little scheme. Jesus," she didn't know if she was disgusted or impressed. Maybe both. "Continue."

"I didn't tell Adriano because it would not have mattered, as much as he loved Lorenzo and Paige, Luis was always Adriano's favorite child."

"Just as Lorenzo was yours?" Emily challenged. "I've been looking at some of the pictures around here, there are tons with all four of you or with you and Lorenzo or Luis and Adriano; there are even quite a few with Luis and Lorenzo and my mother, but not very many of you and Luis or Adriano and my father. So you both had your favorites."

"Yes. Certainly, most parents do, no matter what they say. Adriano and I were simply less willing to lie about that fact than other parents are."

"And let me go out on a ledge here and make one more guess: your husband wanted Luis to take over the family business, but you wanted Lorenzo to. Is that right? But that wasn't going to happen, because Lorenzo didn't want the business and your husband didn't want him to have it, at least not while my mother was alive and pregnant with me. Is that right?"

"Yes, of course. Lorenzo refused to join the business; he wanted a family, a life. But make no mistake, I didn't need you or your mother out of the way to bring Lorenzo into the fold. I only needed time and your mother's approval, which I had. She wanted him to take over just as much as I did."

"Why?"

"Luis was too emotional, too unpredictable. He would not have made a good head of this family and his shortcomings would have made life dangerous for all of us, as they eventually did."

"Okay, so you helped my mother fake her death because you thought it would bring Lorenzo back into the business and because it would protect me and my mother from Luis. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"Oddly, I believe you." Emily said and lightly dropped her hands into her lap, twisted them around each other there. "So how did you think she was going to survive on her own if her husband thought she was dead? Obviously you wouldn't be able to help her."

"Obviously. She told me she had some old family connections that would help; it wasn't until years later that I realized Andrejs was the old family connection. If I'd known she was going to go to him for help I never would have allowed it."

"But you weren't worried enough to ask her when the two of you were concocting this little plan. Were you?"

"I had a family to worry about too, sons and a husband." Katia leaned forward, daring Emily to disagree.

"Yeah, not a daughter-in-law or a granddaughter. Don't worry," Emily put up her hand to stop her grandmother's response, she wasn't interested in hearing excuses, "we'll deal with that later. Did she call you later, when she needed to get away from Andrejs?"

"No."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not. She didn't call me again until after she was diagnosed with cancer the second time and then it was only to tell me that you were to be adopted by the Quartermaine family and you would be alright."

"Did you ever meet Brenda?"

"No, certainly not."

"Did you know about her? Where she was from?"

"Yes."

"Did you know that Luis was going to go to Port Charles?"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you warn my family or Lorenzo?"

"I considered it, and then I found out that you had disappeared some time before. At that point, there was no reason to tell anyone."

"Who killed your son, Katia?"

"I don't know what you mean?"

Emily shook her head. As soon as she asked the question her grandmother's shoulders tensed, her eyes narrowed, and she shrunk back in her chair. "That's interesting. You've been completely honest with me about everything, but this. Why? I don't think it was you, as a matter of fact I'm almost certain it wasn't, so who are you protecting?"

"No one."

"You're lying, but we'll get back to that later. I'm missing a few years of my life, some before my mother met the man who masqueraded as my father and one right after he died, do you know why that is?"

Katia's narrowed eyes widened and she shrugged, but there was no sign of confusion on her face.

"Well, that's a look. Why am I missing years of my life grandmother?" Emily put an emphasis on the title and leaned forward in her chair, suddenly much more secure in her own bargaining position. She knew things that she was certain Katia Alcazar would not want her husband to know, and now there was more.

"I—I can't be sure, you understand."

"Guess."

"Your mother had issues when she married my son, things about her life she couldn't remember, things she was unsure of. I'd always believed that she had those issues because of the way she'd been reared," Katia smiled, mostly to herself. "Mothers, mothers of children who are raised around this lifestyle, don't kid themselves, or they shouldn't, there are issues that come with being the child of a mobster. Fears. Insecurities. But there was something your grandfather, Alexander, said after I met him the first time. He made a comment about being able to take away his little girl's pain, making it so she only remembered the good stuff, the best stuff. I always thought…I never thought he really meant it, or at least I told myself he didn't, but…"

"But maybe he did. It wouldn't be hard to tweak a child's memories, especially if they were bad ones—ones that child wanted to get rid of anyway." Is that what happened, she wondered. Her bad memories were taken away? If that was the case then why did she remember anything about Daniel Bowen, why not completely wipe him from her memory altogether?

"You had memories you wanted to get rid of?"

"Oh lady, you have no idea. Did you consider when you were helping my mother make all these plans that she was scared and hormonal and that she'd already had one miscarriage and wasn't willing to risk another? Did you consider that maybe she wasn't acting rationally, that all she wanted to do was to protect her child even if that meant making a deal with the devil? Did you consider what would happen if one day she realized she made a huge mistake and decided to go back on that deal?"

"All good questions. Why don't you answer them, mother?"

Both women quickly turned their heads to the door, and Katia shot up from her chair with the speed of a woman half her age. The sliding door closed with a whisper and Lorenzo was standing in front of them, a look that obviously lacked any affection for his mother on his face.

"Oh. Enzo darling, I was just—"

"Don't bother mother, my daughter was smart enough to realize you were having this conversation beneath my bedroom window, why weren't you?"

Katia turned to her granddaughter, shocked and reluctantly impressed. That was certainly an Alcazar move. "Maybe I was."

"Sorry," Emily stood up and stepped between mother and son, "as much as I'd love to see you chew her out right now, we have two problems. One, I think she may actually be telling the truth about knowing that you'd be able to hear this conversation. Two, I really want to finish this before your father catches on. He's, no offense, just a little too dramatic for me. What do you think?"

Lorenzo nodded and motioned to the two chairs the women had vacated, "Sit down, ladies."

"Certainly, darling."

"Oh drop it," Emily shook her head and sat down in her seat. "He may not want you dead, but I'm pretty sure the _darling_ thing is gonna get old quick."

Lorenzo smiled over at his daughter and took the seat to the left of her and to the right of his mother. "Yes, well, we should certainly continue this conversation. Mother, did you take any of the things your granddaughter just mentioned into account when you helped my wife fake her and my child's death?"

"Would you like me to refresh your memory on the questions?" Emily smiled sweetly and laced her fingers together, waiting for an answer.

"No, that's certainly not necessary. It took all of those things into account, which is way I gave her a way to contact me in case she ever needed help. I don't know why she didn't use it."

"What about Samantha, mother? Did you know about her?"

"Not at first…" Both women watched as Lorenzo shook his head, obviously upset. "I swear, Enzo, I didn't know about her. Not until—not until she was attacked and then only because it was Simon who had attacked her. Your father found out at the same time. We both decided it would be best for Luis not to know about her after that. He wouldn't have reacted well, Enzo, he would have—"

"What, mother? What would your son have done if he found out someone nearly raped and killed his daughter? What would he have done if he found out his daughter's adopted sister was raped and killed? Do you think he would have been angry? What if he found out his mother allowed his wife and daughter to live with a man who beat them, who beat his daughter…what would he do then? What do you think I would do?"

"Lorenzo…" Katia trailed off as she reached for her son's hand and he pulled it back. "I didn't know. Sophie could have contacted me at any time, Enzo. That is the truth. I don't know why she didn't."

"Can I—Can I speak with my father alone for a second? Just a second?"

Katia looked between her granddaughter and her son and dropped her head, unwilling, even for a second, to have either of them see the fear…or the pain. "Of course, I will be right inside the door when you need me, and I will do whatever I need to do to help you. Both of you." Katia lightly touched her son's head as she walked passed him and into the house.

Emily shrugged, unsure of what to say. "She's your mother…"

"None of this had to happen."

"Don't kid yourself, all of this had to happen. All of it. She's right about one thing, your brother probably couldn't have run this business forever. You know that and so do I. And I had to go through what I went through to be here now. I want to get to know you and my grandfather and, god help us all, my grandmother, but if none of this had happened then I wouldn't have Jason and Lucky and my family…It had to happen, but now it needs to end. I need it to end. I need the truth and I think you do too, so let her give it to us and then we'll take it from there. Hey," Emily slid out of her chair and kneeled in front of her father. "Please, look at me." She waited until his eyes were looked on hers to continue, "This can be the end. I can get the truth and you can get the truth and this can all end, but I'm going to need your help. It's getting too big for me to control."

Lorenzo looked down into his daughter's brown eyes and lightly ran his knuckles down her cheek. "We should have had more time."

Emily smiled and reached up to take his hand in her own. "We will. Things are getting better for me now, so much better, and I can finally see a light at the end of this tunnel. This dark, scary tunnel that I've been stuck in for years and, God help me, I'm feeling optimistic so just—just, let's see where this is going to go okay?"

Lorenzo nodded and Emily, in one smooth, cat-like motion rose up off of her knees and went the sliding door. She opened it, stepped aside, "Come back out please."

"Enzo," Katia reached out for her son's hand and visibly trembled when he snatched it out of her reach. It was all she could do not to cry when Emily sat down at the table and her son took the young girl's hand in his own without even thinking about it. Katia took one deep swallow, steadied herself, and said: "What can I do?"

"You can answer my questions," Emily didn't bother adding the _honestly_ to end of the demand, she'd didn't figure the woman would lie at this point, even if her life depended on it. Especially since it was possible that the lives of those she loved, and there was no doubt that Katia Alcazar loved her son and husband, might depend on it.

"Certainly."

"What did you mean, when we were talking about Viktor, when you said it was possible that he was dead or alive?"

"You must understand, most did not even know of Viktor's existence and of those who did, from what I understand, none of them were sure of _who _he was or what he looked like. Viktor and Alexander's father was very protective of his empire, of his children, and he wanted them to protect each other. From what I understand, and I understand very little, he purposely hid the existence of Viktor so that Alexander would have a support system that no one could taint. The brothers were inseparable, at least that is what your mother told me, and completely loyal to one another. I supposed…" Katia trailed off and Emily suddenly perked up.

"You supposed what?"

"Nothing…"

"No, not nothing. What are you thinking?"

"I just—I never thought about this, but why would he need to ensure their loyalty to each other? Sophie was always certain that the reason Viktor's existence was kept secret was so that no one could foul the brother's relationship, but why would that step need to be taken?"

Emily smiled, shook her head. After years of watching brother's fight with each other, she knew exactly why those steps would need to be taken, "They had different mothers. It actually makes perfect sense if you think about it. Alexander's mother was probably their father's wife, but I'm betting that Viktor's mother was not. Blood tells."

"What do you mean?" Lorenzo leaned forward.

"That's it. That's what everyone keeps saying, but no one really gets what it means." She leaned back in her chair and stretched her hands into the air. "All of you think that _blood tells _means that only blood relations are important, but I know different. I know that more often than not the family you make, the family you choose, is just as if not more important than what your born with. Maybe that's what Alexander meant when he said it; maybe that's what his father drilled into him. That he _chose_ to be Viktor's brother and that was more important than that fact that they did not share a mother. And if my great-uncle Viktor and the Viktor who trained me are the same person then I'm betting that what I was feeling with Simon and Andrejs when they had me trapped in the room was the familial connection. Simon is Viktor's son, and Andrejs is Alexander's adopted son. That's they're connection."

Katia nodded, smiled. "It's possible, but that doesn't explain why Alexander adopted Andrejs."

"No. It doesn't. So what would?"

"A different familial connection." Katia and Emily both shook their heads, confused, at Lorenzo's response. "In some cases, blood tells means exactly that."

"Shit." Emily smiled, nodded. It was perfect. "Alexander wasn't Viktor's only family. He would have had a wife, he would have had aunts, uncles, cousins all of that from his mother's side of the family too. So maybe his favorite cousin, best friend, whatever, gets a job working for the Nikolai family and then dies, Viktor couldn't make it up to the man's family, but Alexander could, and would, for his brother. Andrejs' connection isn't to Alexander, it never was; he's connected to Viktor somehow. It was for Viktor that Alexander married Andrejs' mother and adopted him, not for some dead bodyguard."

* * *

Jason and Sonny stood outside of a white house, with a white picket fence, and boxes of flowers blooming on the porch. The grass was cut perfectly level with the grass of every other house in the neighborhood and the fountain in the front yard had frogs and naked children merrily dancing around it. There was a brand new swing hanging from the roof of the porch that probably didn't make a sound when the happy couple sat in it at night and talked about their perfect day as a nurse and a district attorney.

"Growing up, I always wondered if places like this actually existed. Perfect family, perfect house, probably a perfect dog in there that doesn't shed or eat Italian leather shoes."

Jason shook his head, laughed a little, "I thought Bailey stopped doing that."

"Did, until Emily left. I love your sister, but her dog might be dead soon. Damn thing has no self-control."

"It's a dog," Jason shrugged. "You sure you want to do this now?"

Sonny nodded, "I has to be done before we leave for Venezuela."

"It could wait."

"Why?"

"Yes," Ric Lansing opened to the door to his newly purchased house, stepped back, and leaned against the jamb, "why wait? Come on in. My wife is a work." Ric turned, walked into his house, and left the door standing open.

Sonny looked to Jason, shrugged, and the followed the other man into the house where he noticed not only Ric Lansing sitting and waiting for him, but also AJ Quartermaine. Sonny heard Jason's quick release of breath behind him and shook his head. If he and his own brother weren't already a recipe for danger, someone decided it would be smart to add another set of brothers to the mix, brother's who were, as of two days before, getting ready for a custody battle.

"Hey little brother."

Jason shook his head, closed the door behind him, "What are you doing here AJ?"

"Visiting a friend. What are you doing here?"

"Don't do this. You don't want to get involved in this AJ. This guy is your friend," he shrugged, "fine, but I'm telling you that you do not want to be involved in what's going down. It's bad for you and bad for Emily too."

"Oh you care about our little sister? You care that she's dating this psycho," he pointed to Sonny. "Have you told Emily the truth about Michael? About how you stole my son from me? Have you?"

"Enough," Sonny shook his head, gestured around the room. "Are we alone?"

Ric laughed, the bastard actually thought he'd wire his own house. "We're alone."

"Good. How well do you know your father, Lansing? Well enough, I bet, to warn your friend here to stay the hell away from him. Well enough to know that he hid a dead body in one of my shipments. Well enough to know that as much as you may hate me, a part of you has to hate him more."

"I hate my father more than I hate the bastard who abused my mother and took her from me? That's a good one. You got anything else?"

Sonny's fist clinched and Jason watched as his friend slowly, carefully loosened each finger.

"That's what he told you?" Sonny laughed humorlessly and sat down. "Boy, daddy sure has you all twisted up doesn't he?"

"He didn't have to tell me. I've seen the hospital reports of the broken bones, the black eyes, the cracked ribs. Your step-father Deke wasn't as supportive of you as our mother was; he wasn't willing to let everyone run around believing you were the poor little boy done wrong, left by your father. He told people the truth," Ric shot Sonny a disgusted smirk and shook his head. "You're probably the reason he had so many domestic abuse cases in his files. Couldn't stop our mother from loving her abusive son, so he tried to protect as many other women as he could. Did you kill him too?"

"Wanted to, didn't." Sonny shook his head, he wanted, badly, to wipe the smug look off of Ric Lansing's face, but not badly enough to actually hit the guy and give him reason to arrest him. He'd heard all of this before, Taggert had the same information, hated him for the same reason for a long time. "That makes sense to you Ric? That a cop would allow his wife to be beaten by her child? That he'd just look the other way. Do you really believe that Deke would let me break my mother's bones, black her eyes, and crack her ribs over and over again? All just because she asked. Come on, you're a smart guy, a lawyer—that makes sense to you?"

"It might not, if I didn't know that you pushed our mother down the stairs when you found out she was pregnant with me."

Sonny didn't remember that, but he also wasn't sure it hadn't happened. He remembered what he'd been like around that time, after his father left, before Deke. He'd be angry, possessive, it was possible he'd gotten angry, freaked out, done something stupid, not to cause harm, but because he didn't know what the hell else to do. But even if that had happened, Ric Lansing was alive and in Port Charles so he must not have caused too much damage. How that hell had he taken that one incident, one childish mistake and turned it into a life-long vendetta? His father. "Apparently it didn't stick. You're here. Must not have done too much harm."

"It made her choose you over me."

Again, Sonny felt like he'd lost his mind. Who the hell was this guy? "I pushed her down the stairs, obviously didn't cause too much damage, though if it happened I'm sorry for it, and you think this is reason enough to hide body in a shipment and to team up with Andrejs Nikolai. Really? Come on AJ," Sonny turned to the other man, realizing he wasn't going to get anything out of Ric. The guy was too brainwashed by his father, "does this make sense to you? You're on dangerous ground here and because I love your sister I'm going to tell you to step back off of it. It's not worth it to get involved with these guys. You don't like me, you're pissed at your brother, fine, but you're not a killer and you're not Trevor Lansing's son, you got no reason to get caught up in this."

Sonny turned to Ric, shook his head and said, "You're my brother. We both know that now. We're not going to have a happy, family reunion. I'm not surprised. That wouldn't happen even if you and your father weren't psychos. My mother chose my over you? Fine, whatever. She's not around to tell us what she was thinking—how she came to that choice. But I'm betting it wasn't as easy as 'take this one, leave that one' and I think you know that. So I'll say this, then get out of your house: Stay away from my friends, my family, the people I love, and my business and we'll be fine. Get in my way and you won't like the outcome. I'm not interested in playing games with you, not now, not over this. Jase," he turned to his best friend, "you ready?"

Jason nodded, gave AJ one final look, and shook his head. He knew that Ric wasn't going to take the warning, wasn't going to listen, but his real worry was that AJ wouldn't either. He didn't particularly like his brother, that was no secret, but he wasn't interested in having him enter this particular fight, not when they had another brewing on the horizon.

AJ and Ric watched, wordlessly, as their brother's walked out of the house and shut the door carefully behind them.

"What was he talking about? What body?"

"He was obviously lying." But Ric wasn't so sure. Was it possible that his father had taken this to the next level? Killed a man and tried to frame Sonny for it? He knew that his father was working with Andrejs Nikolai, but he'd believed that the two of them—father and son—were in control of the situation. Now he wasn't so sure. And he also wasn't sure he was willing to risk his freedom, or worse Liz's life, just to get back at his brother.

"Was he?"

"Of course he was," Trevor Lansing walked out of the back room and looked between his son and AJ Quartermaine, shaking his head. He'd only agreed to deal with his son's friend because he knew that a custody battle would distract Jason Morgan from his duties as Corinthos' second-in-command. But he knew when to cut ties with an associate that was weighing him down and AJ was getting dangerously close to becoming dead weight.

"What about my sister?"

"What about her?"

AJ puffed out a humorless laugh and turned to the older man who'd finally stepped all the way into the room from the back hallway, "Did you know she was going to be kidnapped? Her shoulder was dislocated and she's been shot at more than once. How much of that was because of you?"

"None. I've put my associates on warning that she's no longer to be touched."

"She wasn't ever supposed to be touched and now—"

"Now what?" Trevor asked, cutting AJ off. "Is it my fault she was with Corinthos while he was out on business? Is it my fault she's associating with a man that could get her killed? Maybe you should tell your little sister that it is dangerous to play in business that she doesn't understand. And don't forget who gave you the information that got you a second custody trial for your son. If it wasn't for me you'd still think that Michael was your brother's child and you'd have no proof that he tampered with the DNA testing, maybe you should be more careful who you make demands of. I don't have to continue to be on your side Mr. Quartermaine. Now leave, I need to speak with my son alone." AJ hesitated for a second, gave his friend a look, and then shook his head and left.

"What was that about?"

"What was what about Ric?"

"The body. Emily Quartermaine be shot at, kidnapped. You told me you had nothing to do with any of that and now you've changed your story. What's going on here?"

"We're in a fight with a mobster Richard, do you think we can play by all the rules and still beat him? And that girl is nothing more than Sonny Corinthos' whore. She knows what he does, what kind of many he is, and still she shares her bed with him. If you ask me she's no better than he is. You've read her file, you know the things she's done, do you disagree?"

"No, it's just—"

"It's just what," Trevor interrupted. "She's your pretty little woman's friend. Maybe you should tell Elizabeth to choose her friends more carefully, and maybe you should do the same. I don't want to have this conversation again."

"Fine. About AJ, he's just worried, there's no need to—"

"I'll handle AJ Quartermaine as I see fit. I don't want to hear about any of this again."

"Yes, sir." Ric watched as his father left his house and, not for the first time, wondered what he'd gotten himself into and whether or not he'd be able to get himself and Elizabeth out of it alive.

* * *

"Oh God," Emily Quartermaine rolled over in her bed and reached out for the alarm clock. She smacked the offending machine and threw a pillow over her head when it continued on with the incessant buzzing in her ear. "In the name of…" She rolled over again and reached for the big silver button on top of the mischievous contraption and continuously poked it with her middle finger, trying to thump it into submissions. It wasn't until she rolled over and noticed the luminescent red numbers showing 3:27 A.M. that she realized it wasn't the alarm clock buzzing in her ear. "What the hell…" The buzzing continued and, finally, she aimed her violent eyes at the high-tech cell phone given to her by the foolish Damien Spinelli. The name on the outside read Sonny Corinthos and, not for the first time, she wanted to beat the man in the head with something large and heavy.

"What?" She answered the phone with what, at the time, was her most cheerful greeting and rolled her eyes. Before Sonny could answer there was a banging on her bedroom door. "God. Wait. Now there's someone pounding on the door…what is wrong with people. It's three-thirty in the morning and you people will not let me sleep." She yanked the door opened and groaned, "What do you want?"

Lorenzo looked down at the phone in his daughter's hand and said, "Were you busy?"

"No. Yes…" She trailed off and scrubbed her free hand down her face. "It's Sonny. I don't know what he wants, but somebody had better be dead." The miserable look on his face sobered her considerably and Emily lifted the phone from her side and put it to her ear. "What's wrong? When? I…No, no I'm fine. Yeah. Yeah." She shook her head and looked at Lorenzo before saying, "Yeah, I think he knows. Okay. Alright. No. No. Umm, yeah. I'll be back as soon as I can, but I need to go now, okay? No. No I'm not fine. Sonny, I need to go." She hung up the phone without saying another word and tears began to silent stream down her face.

"Are you—"

"My brother is dead." She said the four simple words, leaned her head on her father's shoulder, and continued crying.


End file.
